[CHERA Seminar] Policy as Soft Deterrence: International Students from China, India and Vietnam Amid Shifting Geopolitics in Australia

Policy as Soft Deterrence: International Students from China, India and Vietnam Amid Shifting Geopolitics in Australia

Date: November 10, 2026 (Tuesday)

Time: 11:00 am - 12:15 pm 

Venue: RMS206, Runme Shaw Building, HKU / Online via Zoom

Language: English

Registration: https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7U5PrRiPTBVIMS2

Since 2021, Australia’s international education and migration policies have undergone significant changes amid a shifting geopolitical environment in which international education has become increasingly entangled with migration management, national security and geopolitical risk. Yet, less is known about how these shifts are experienced and interpreted by international students themselves. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese international students, this presentation analyses how students navigate an increasingly conditional and uncertain policy environment. It conceptualises recent policy changes as a form of soft deterrence through which policy measures can make arrival, studying, working and remaining in the country more difficult, costly and uncertain. The analysis highlights experiences of administrative delays, visa insecurity, rising visa costs, changing visa conditions, constrained employment opportunities and emotional uncertainty, while showing how these experiences vary across national backgrounds and geopolitical contexts. The presentation introduces three concepts: temporal bordering, aspirational compromise and affective governance in international education, to illuminate how policy and geopolitical shifts shape students’ aspirations, emotions, sense of belonging and future possibilities. It argues that international education governance is not only regulatory but also relational and affective, through which geopolitical dynamics mediated through students’ everyday encounters with policy.

About the Speaker:

Ly Tran is a Professor in the School of Education and Research for Educational Impact (REDI) Centre, Deakin University, Australia. Her research focuses on international education, graduate employability, the education-work-migration nexus, student mobilities, geopolitics and regional engagement. She was named as one of Australia and ASEAN ‘Top 50’ voices on international education 2023 and one of 20 Top International Education Influencers, Edruptor. She received the Inaugural Melbourne Asia Game Changer Award from Asia Society Australia, and the Inaugural Shining Star Achievement in Research Award in the Noam Chomsky Global Connections Awards, in recognition of her contribution to international education.

All are welcome!

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