Neoliberal governance towards the non-German-speaking world in Austria’s internationalization of higher education

Nao, Marion ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6300-4867, Yuksel, Dogan, Zuaro, Beatrice, Wingrove, Peter and Hultgren, Anna Kristina 2025. Neoliberal governance towards the non-German-speaking world in Austria’s internationalization of higher education. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 295 , pp. 53-77. 10.1515/ijsl-2024-0122

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Abstract

As in many parts of Europe, Austria has seen increasing internationalization of its public universities since modernization reforms towards autonomy and accompanying steering-at-a-distance practices of state ministries. Here, we explore the sociolinguistic relevance of such neoliberal governance on this trend. In a novel turn, we invert the common lens on English as an incoming language to examine instead the monitoring of internationalization data from the pluricentric context of the German-speaking DACH region, comprising Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We expound on this as an imagined speech community, vis-à-vis which Austria can be seen through steering at multiscalar level to rearticulate its very identity as a nation state. As part of an innovative use of process tracing methodology, we consulted policy documentation and monitoring data on DACH internationalization in order to probe key stakeholders at a public case study university and at ministerial level on its relevance. An analysis of stance revealed that steering conversations mutually reinforced a move away from the inbound mobility of students and staff from DACH – a dynamic that was disfavoured as inhibitory of progress, a less real form of internationalization, and unambitious, thereby at odds with neoliberal governance towards performance and competitiveness.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Architecture
Publisher:	De Gruyter
ISSN:	1613-3668
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 September 2026
Date of Acceptance:	26 May 2025
Last Modified:	16 Sep 2026 09:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/189634

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