CIHE Newsletter - August 2026
CIHE Executive Committee Update
Greetings CIHE Community,
As a new academic year begins, I hope this message finds you well and ready for the semester ahead. Whether you are welcoming new students, beginning a new teaching year, returning to research and scholarship, or navigating new professional and personal transitions, I hope the fall semester brings you moments of purpose, connection, and joy. I know that the beginning of a new academic year can be both exciting and demanding, and I encourage each of you to take care of yourselves and one another as we move into another busy season.
This fall, we are especially mindful of the many members of our CIHE community who are navigating uncertainty surrounding international student and scholar visa policies and regulations. For our colleagues and students on F-1 and J-1 visas, changes in immigration policies can have profound implications—not only for academic and professional plans, but also for families, careers, and a sense of stability and belonging. During times of uncertainty, our community matters more than ever. I hope CIHE can continue to be a place where international scholars and allies can ask questions, share information and resources, support one another, and find encouragement. While we may not always be able to control the policies and circumstances surrounding us, we can choose how we care for and stand with one another.
This fall will also bring an exciting opportunity for our CIHE community to reconnect in person at the ASHE Annual Conference in Puerto Rico. I am looking forward to gathering with many of you at our CIHE Pre-Conference on Tuesday, November 3, as well as at the various CIHE meetings, receptions, and other opportunities throughout the ASHE conference. These gatherings are more than events on a conference schedule—they are opportunities to reconnect with longtime colleagues, welcome new members, build collaborations, mentor emerging scholars, and simply remind ourselves that we are part of a community that extends across institutions, countries, and borders.
One of the greatest strengths of CIHE has always been the generosity, care, and commitment of its members. At a time when international higher education continues to experience significant changes and challenges, I am grateful for the ways our community continues to learn from one another, advocate for our students and scholars, and create spaces where people feel seen, supported, and connected.
I hope you have a meaningful and successful fall semester, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Puerto Rico this November. Until then, please know that you are an important part of the CIHE community, and we are grateful for all that you bring to it.
Warm regards,
Katie Koo, PhD
2026 ASHE CIHE Pre-Conference
The ASHE Council for International Higher Education (CIHE) will convene its 36th Annual Pre-Conference Forum on Monday, October 26, 2026, 12:00pm-1:30pm San Juan Time and conference registration is open!
The 2025 CIHE Pre-Conference Forum will host sessions that incorporate a comparative dimension in their methods or theoretical frameworks or explore practices and structures that have international implications. The Pre-Conference Forum will end with the annual business meeting (Tuesday, Nov 3, 5:30-6:30pm San Juan Time), including the awarding of the 2025 CIHE Award for Significant Research on International Higher Education.
Also, CIHE will host the Monday night CIHE Reception on Monday November 2nd. Please come and enjoy the gathering before the pre-conference begins.
This year, we will also host an International Students/Scholars with Dependents Meet-up. More information will be coming soon!
2026 Research and Discussion Webinar
We will be offering a series of webinars in 2026 that will focus on relevant and critical issues within international higher education. This will be led by our ASHE CIHE members who will share their research and facilitate discussion among the participants.
September: Narratives of Persistence: A Postcolonial Exploration of Black African Refugee Postsecondary Students’ Cultural Heritage Use
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 8:00 am - 9:00 am Pacific Time
Presenters: Dr. Meseret F. Hailu & Dr. Ane Turner Johnson
Upcoming Webinar: Supporting International Scholars Amid Recent F-1/J-1 Visa Changes
CIHE is planning a webinar to support international students and scholars in navigating recent changes affecting F-1 and J-1 visa holders. The session will provide an opportunity to learn more about these developments, ask questions, and discuss their implications for our international education community. More details, including the date and speakers, will be shared soon.
Join our roundtable sessions and plenary panel featuring outstanding scholars in our field! The sessions will explore career and research interests, needs, and goals. This is a wonderful opportunity to network, develop relationships, and strengthen your engagement within the ASHE–CIHE community.
If you are interested in sharing your research or have a topic that you are interested in learning more about for a future webinar, please e-mail Seyoung Hong at sehong@augusta.edu
Other Professional Development and Academic Opportunities:
International Scholar Workshop
The International Scholars Workshop will be held virtually on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM (PDT) to Friday, October 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM (PDT). We encourage international students, international faculty, and any scholars who are interested in and who are from international backgrounds/community to attend. Additionally, faculty, chairs, and academic program directors are encouraged to participate in this workshop as they seek ways to better support international scholars (doctoral students, post-docs, visiting or adjunct faculty, and faculty) they work with under the current unique circumstances and political terrain. Register
CALL FOR ARTICLES | Special Issue of New Directions for Higher Education
Guest co-editors Milad Mohebali, Laura Vaughn, and Julie Brines are seeking submissions for a special issue on "Internationalization of U.S. Higher Education in Time of Crisis and Uncertainty" in New Directions for Higher Education. This call is situated within the current uncertain context around internationalization of higher education in the United States. Articles may be emergent scholarly, empirical, and practitioner perspectives on leadership, policy, organizational response, and professional development and training that examine and critique the current moment and offer new ways of strategizing, planning, and advocating for internationalization of U.S. higher education. The goal of the special issue is to capture this critical moment of change and become an archive of scholarship that captures the dilemmas and complexities of international discourse within a time of nationalism, which is itself entangled within the U.S. imperial, settler-colonial, and racial sociohistorical context. Proposal Deadline: September 15, 2026. Learn more and submit here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15360741/call-for-papers/us-higher-ed-crisis-uncertainty
The Journal of Global Higher Education
The Journal of Global Higher Education is an open-access, independent, community-run, peer-reviewed scholarly journal focused on global higher education and the opportunities, issues, and challenges that international and global engagement presents. This journal is a key publication outlet for Research with International Students (RIS), and the Critical Internationalization Studies Network (CISN).
New JCIHE Special Issue: Race, Racism, and Racialization
The Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education (JCIHE) has published a new Special Issue on “Race, Racism, and Racialization in the Internationalization of Higher Education from Global Perspectives” (Volume 18, Issue 4, 2026). The issue engages with critical questions of systemic inequality, xenophobia, hate speech, invisibility, and the intersections of race and racialization in comparative and international higher education.
We are excited to see several CIHE members contributing to this important conversation. Please see the CIHE Members’ Publications section below for their articles featured in this Special Issue.
Open Call: Special Issues for 2027, 2028, & 2029
Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education (JCIHE) https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/jcihe/
JCIHE is the official journal of the Comparative and International Education Society’s (CIES) Higher Education Special Interest Group (HESIG). JCIHE promotes scholarship opportunities and critical dialogue to engage scholars worldwide. Send submissions to: https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/jcihe
Please see the call for the following Special Issues:
19(6) 2027: Transnational Pathways to Professoriate: Precarity and Promise for Women: Guest Editors: Al Dabiri and Gina Sarabella. This Issue examines transnational pathways for women teaching in academia, from graduate study to the first faculty appointment to senior positions. Proposals are DUE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2026
20(1) 2028: SPECIAL ISSUE: 20th Anniversary. JCIHE invites previously published authors to contribute a 500-1,000-word essay about how their previously published works are currently contributing to the field. Submissions are DUE: FEBRUARY 1, 2027
20(4): 2028 From Mobility to Employability: New Insights into Education-Work Transitions: Guest Editors: Armand Brice Kouadio & Lamia Ben Hamida. This special issue examines longer-term outcomes from education-work transitions and how international experiences shape workplace skills and sustain professional trajectories. Proposals are DUE: FEBRUARY 1, 2027
20(5) 2028: Crisis Response for Student Affairs & Services Globally: Guest Editors: Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif, Wadad Y. El-Housseini, Ekow Orleans De-Graft, Maisa Shadid, & Manal Ammagui. The special issue examines how crises management is conceptualized and addressed globally to support students. Proposals are DUE: DECEMBER 1, 2026
20(6) 2028: Reframing Internationalization in an Age of Populism: Community Engagement, Public Value, and Science Communication. Guest Editor: Jonah M. Otto & Melissa Brun. This special issue examines how higher education internationalization is being reshaped in contexts marked by populist, illiberal, and authoritarian political pressures. Proposals are DUE: APRIL 1, 2027
21(4): 2029 Comparative and International Higher Education in Africa. Special Guest Editor: Andrea Lane. This issue will focus on higher education in the continent of Africa. Proposals are DUE December 1, 2027.
EMERGING SCHOLARS Research Summaries Annual Issue: shares thesis/dissertation work-in-progress or original research in 1,200 - 1,600 words. Submissions are due late September for each year.
Submissions are DUE for 2027 on SEPTEMBER 30, 2026
Article Spotlight
Lally, M., & Conway, P. F. (2026). Higher education in prison: A comparative policy analysis of five countries. Higher Education, 91, 1581–1600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01485-1
This analysis explores how higher education in prison policies impact educational access for incarcerated populations in five different national contexts: Australia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, and the USA. Employing an analytic policy borrowing framework, the study explores how the stated goals of higher education in prison, such as reduced recidivism and savings on public spending, translate into the actual provision of and access to education in carceral contexts. Findings reveal that while the stated purposes of higher education in prison are often consistent across national contexts, differences in funding structures and educational delivery methods significantly impact the contours of access for incarcerated people to higher education opportunities.
Recent CIHE Member Publications
Arumuhathas, S. S. (2026). Inclusions and illusions: Transnational matrix of subordination & the (in)visible hierarchies among racialized international students in Ontario universities. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1928
August-Mowers, C. M., & Hoffman, S. M. (2026). Decolonizing raciolinguistic ideologies in institutions of higher learning. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1907
Baker, I. D., & Hong, S. (2026). A college choice model for Chinese international undergraduate students studying in the US. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(2), 8–32.
Bodine Al-Sharif, M. A. (2026). Building a global consortium: How IASAS is working to promote a space for culturally responsive practitioner research in student affairs and services globally. In B. Perozzi, H. October, & J. Ward-Roof (Eds.), Global division publication: Vol. 1. Creating global community (pp. 133–135). NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
Corso, A. R., Harshe, G., George Mwangi, C., & Yao, C. W. (2026). “It’s very racialized and very politicized”: International educators recount the campus and local climate for international students. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1910
Cui, D. (2026). Contradiction and critical consciousness: Engaging Canadian university students in racial dialogue on anti-Chinese racism. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1929
Denga, B., & Vital, L. M. (2026). Race, racism, and racialization in international higher education: A transnational and mobility-aware approach. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.2081
Edwards, B. C. (2026). Reimagining global DEI through adaptive leadership: A framework for advancing racial equity in international higher education partnerships. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.2048
Gong, H. J., Jin, S., & Babu, S. (2026). Holding a child, holding a dream: Asian international student mothers’ access to and navigation of doctoral education in the USA. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 1–16.
Greene, S., Hopkins, K., Whatley, M., & Yao, C. W. (2026). The prevalence and landscape of accent reduction programs at US institutions of higher education. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1912
Hou, M., Le, T. T. K., & Mushfiq, M. (2026). Intersecting identities of three Asian transnational women doctoral students: A critical collaborative autoethnography. Higher Education, 91(3), 1129–1144.
Ifeonu, P.-C. (2026). Resistance, rebuttal and risk: Exploring Black international students’ perceptions of racial justice organizing in Western Canada. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4).
Islam, M. B., Asakura, T., Islam, M. T., Amina, D., & Bodine Al-Sharif, M. A. (2026). National AI strategies and higher education in the Global South: Policy, practice, and power. In A. W. Wiseman (Ed.). Emerald Publishing.
Jha, G. (2026). Not quite foreign, never fully belonging: Racialization of southbound policy students in Taiwan. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1914
Jithoo, D., & Gilbrecht, A. (2026). Resurrecting anti-apartheid solidarity: Scholasticide, race, and the politics of internationalization in higher education. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/jcihe/vol18/iss4/7
Kim, S., Kim, H., Hong, S., & Paik, E. J. (2026). Experiences of culturally engaging advising among South Korean doctoral students: A collaborative autoethnography. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(2), 205–233.
Lynch, R. (2026). Nice White ladies: Exorcising the ghost of Lady Bountiful. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4).
Olson, T. H., Hong, S., & Renn, K. A. (2026). Training, trust, and terabytes: Absorptive capacity for data analytics at research universities. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 63(1), 73–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2025.2505852
Otto, J. M., Whatley, M., & Salto, D. J. (2026). The internationalization of for-profit higher education institutions in the United States: Seeking legitimacy and responding to market forces via international student mobility. Higher Education, 1–21.
Raby, R. (2026). Introduction to JCIHE 18(4 Part 1) 2026 issue Summer 2026 special issue race, racism, and racialization in the internationalization of higher education from global perspectives. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.2089
Shelton, L. J., Yao, C., Harshe, G., Nguyen, T., & Nti, R. (2026). From “student affairs? What’s that?” to graduate education in the United States. Journal of College Student Development, 67(3), 334–350.
Surender, V. B., Penna, S., & Osimosu, O. (2026). Shared equity leadership in an offshore medical school: Distributing responsibility for equity. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1976
Vital, L. M., Yu, J., & Denga, B. (2026). Introduction to JCIHE special issue 18(4a). Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.2082
Weng, Y.-H., Terogo, I. J., & Dahl, L. S. (2026). Inter(sectional)(national): Modeling belonging and campus climate among Asian international students’ identities. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1918
Whatley, M., & Kumbal, J. S. (2026). Exploring the relationship between international student enrollment at US higher education institutions and mass shootings. Journal of Studies in International Education, 30(2), 247–271.
Zaidi, S. A. N., & Cherian, F. V. (2026). Knowledge dilution and tinted pedagogical dissemination: A call for de-colonizing commercial textbooks in teacher education for international students. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1888
Zewolde, S. A. (2026). Old wine new bottles: Racial microaggressions experiences of Black African international students in England. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1909
Zheng, J. (2026). “Related to race but not equal to race”: An intersectional analysis of Asian international students’ sensemaking of racism. The Journal of Higher Education, 1–24.
Zheng, J., & Lue, K. (2026). Transnational racialization: An exploratory case study of Asian international students in U.S. higher education. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 18(4).