"It’s like very white-winged”: students’ perceptions of the image and reality of Internationalisation in UK Higher Education

Following a damning report into racism in United Kingdom Higher Education (EHRC, 2019), this paper discusses students’ experiences of racism in HE. Focusing on the connections between lived experience and wider goals and trends in the Internationalisation of the university sector, we discuss accounts of racist practices on campus through the concept of xeno-racism highlighted in data from a small scale, in-depth qualitative study. Three main findings are highlighted. First, we suggest that racism is a predictable – even integral - feature of Internationalisation as it is currently pursued by UKHE. Second, we argue that our data provides evidence that the traditional forms of racism highlighted by the EHRC is part of a wider, deeper problem of xeno-racist treatment and troubling narrative practices. Finally, our analysis connects these practices to a degree of angelism in the Internationalised institution’s self-image, portraying Internationalised HE in an idealistic but disingenuous way for financial gain. Together, these three phenomena undermine UKHE’s altruistic claims by subordinating the issue of discrimination to questions of process, brand management and reputational damage limitation. Tackling the problem of racism on campus cannot be successful without also tackling these issues.