International Conference on
Academic Mobility and Migration 3
(ICAMM3)

Bilingual Conference (French/English)
Presented by the Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 4-5 July 2012

Plenary speakers:

Anthony Welch,
Professor (Education),
University of Sydney, Australia

Sarjit Kaur,
Associate Professor (English Language Studies),
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia

Terry Kim,
Associate Professor (Comparative Higher Education),
Brunel University, London, England, UK

Sylvie Mazzella,
Professor (Sociology)
CNRS/ Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Sociologie (LAMES), Aix-en-Provence, France

About the Conference

This international two-day conference focuses on Academic Mobility and Migration (AMM). It follows two previous successful international conferences held in Finland (Turku, 2006) and in Estonia (Tallinn, 2009). Renamed ICAMM3 on the occasion of this new event, the conference will take place near Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. This marks the first move to shifting the focus from Europe and exploring Academic Mobility and Migration in Asian perspectives—and beyond! Malaysian higher education is no stranger to mobility. As such clear internationalization strategies concerning incoming and outgoing mobility have been delineated for some time now. In a chapter published in 2008 Prof. Anthony Welch, who specializes in national and international educational policy and practice, warned us against thinking that Academic Mobility only concerns and takes place in the “West”. The conference in Malaysia will be an occasion to take stock of the many and varied activities related to internationalization in other parts of the world. The conference tradition has it that speakers can present their work in English and French—needless to say that this also adds to the originality of the event and the richness of exchanges.

From Academic Mobility to Academic Mobility and Migration? Academic Mobility is now often presented as “systematic, dense, multiple and trans-national” (Kim, 2010). There is also a widespread consensus that most countries and world regions are now witnessing it. AMM has clearly become part of the “complex interdependencies between, and social consequences of, such diverse mobilities” that characterise our era (Urry, 2010) and contributed to the transformation of the ‘social as society’ into ‘the social as mobility’ (ibid.). The figures seem to talk for themselves to describe the “success” and “generalisation” of contemporary Academic Mobility: according to the latest statistics provided by UNESCO the number of international students rose by more than 75% between 2000 and 2009. The number is expected to rise by 3.7 million by 2015 (Bhandari & Blumenthal, 2011). New markets are also emerging. For example, China is said to want to attract 500,000 international students in the near future, while according to BBC News (March 2011) “the entire overseas student population in China could once have travelled in a minibus. In the early 50s it consisted of 20 East Europeans”. In 2010, Malaysia itself had more than 87,000 international students, more than one third originating from only three countries: Iran (12,000), China and Indonesia (10,000 each). At the same time, some 80,000 Malaysians were registered in higher institutions around the world, mainly in Australia (20,000), UK & Ireland (14,000) and USA (6,000) as well as Egypt (8,500) and Indonesia (5,500) and Taiwan (5,100). Even though the increase in research on Academic Mobility gives the impression that a whole new field of study has emerged and blossomed over the past 10 years (Byram & Dervin (eds.), 2008; Dervin (ed.), 2011), there remain a lot of questions to be asked about the ‘essence’ of Academic Mobility. To begin with, it is important to bear in mind that many mobile academics work/study in another country/other countries and have never actually worked or studied in their own country. Academic Migration (long-term eventually definitive) should thus not be confused with Academic Mobility (short-term) but become a ‘research companion’—which can serve for example comparative purposes. The conference organisers have taken this into account by adding the word Migration to Academic Mobility. The speakers are advised to take note of this as well. Another important aspect to be revised is the dichotomization of international academic mobility and intranational academic mobility. In our times of gloCality, where the local cannot escape being transformed by the global and vice versa, is this still “valid”? For J. Urry (2010): “Both are bound together through a dynamic relationship, as huge flows of resources move backwards and forwards between the global and the local. Neither the global nor the local can exist without the other”. The conference organizers thus suggest considering the glocal impacts and implications of AMM. ICAMM 3 will bring together international researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds and institutions to discuss Academic Mobility and Migration. This conference seeks to address the following topic strands (amongst others):

• Language learning and teaching
• Educational aspects
• Diachronic perspectives on AMM
• The myths of AMM
• Forms of AMM
o Short-term/long-term/multiple mobilities (‘multimovers’)
o Virtual Academic Mobility
o ‘Local’ Academic Mobility (e.g. Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, Middlesex University-Dubai Campus, Monash University Malaysia, The University of Nottingham-Malaysia Campus or Curtin University Sarawak)
o Mobility of objects, images, information and “wastes” (Urry, 2010)
across global academic networks and flows
• Categories of mobile individuals
o Gender
o Minorities
o Academic Migrants (il/legal)
o Returnees (migrants/exchange students)
• Long-term impact / consequences of AMM
o Employability
o Language policies
o The “intercultural”
o Identity
o Impact on the ‘local’
o Impact on the environment
• Official strategies vs. reality
• Sociality (long-term/short-term)
o Families, intimate relations
o ‘Friendship’
o Sense of community
o Reunion
• Research methods: how to study AMM?
• …

Proposal submission
We invite scholars and professionals to submit proposals (in English or in French) before 1st November 2011. Abstracts should be submitted through Easyabstracts: http://linguistlist.org/confcustom/icamm3 Paper and colloquia proposals are invited. Individual paper proposals (200-300 words; duration: 30 minutes including a twenty-minute presentation, with an additional ten minutes for discussion). Colloquia proposals (200 words for the colloquium concept and 200-300 words on each paper, duration: 3h, max. 5 participants – conveners and discussant included)

Please note that only one paper per person can be submitted. Abstracts will be reviewed by the scientific committee for originality, significance, clarity and academic rigour.
Decisions about the submitted papers: 15 December 2011
Questions should be sent to: icamm3@yahoo.com
Conference website: www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/ICAMM3 Registrations fees:
Early bird (by 31 January 2012):
Local presenters/ participants RM400
International presenters/ participants Euro 120 / US175
Registration (1 February- 15 May 2012):
Local presenters/ participants RM500
International presenters/ participants Euro 150 / US220

Partners:
• Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• University of Turku, Finland
• Association malaisienne des Professeurs de Français (AMPF) Scientific Chairs and Chairs of the Organizing Committee:
• Chairperson: Dr. Régis Machart, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
• Deputy Chairperson, Head of the Scientific Committee: Prof. Fred Dervin, University of Turku, University of Eastern Finland and University of Helsinki, Finland (creator of the ICAMM in 2006)

International Scientific Committee:
• Ain Nadzimah Abdullah, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Barbot Marie-José, University of Lille, France
• Byram Michael, University of Durham, England, UK
• Chan Mei Yuit, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Chan Swee Eng, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Cicchelli Vincenzo, University of Paris Descartes, France
• Develotte Christine, ENS-Ifé, Lyon, France
• Fahey Johannah, Monash University, Australia
• Guo Shibao, University of Calgary, Canada
• Kim Terry, Brunel University, London, England, UK
• King Russell, University of Sussex
• Ljalikova Aleksandra, University of Tallinn, Estonia
• Mazzella Sylvie, University of Aix-en-Provence, France
• O’Dowd Robert, University of Lèon, Spain
• Ogay Tania, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
• Papatsiba Vassiliki, University of Sheffield, UK
• Pietsch Tamon, University of Oxford, England, UK
• Risager Karen, University of Roskilde, Denmark
• Vogl Gillian, Macquarie University, Australia
• Wagner Anne-Catherine, EHESS, Paris, France
• Welch Anthony, University of Sydney, Australia
• Wong Bee Eng, Universiti Putra Malaysia