Staying Home” and Domestic Student (Im)mobilities: Thinking Through “Stuckness” Beyond COVID-19

Abstract

Research into the social and geographical dimensions of student mobility in Higher Education (HE) is well established. Within this broad field, domestic student mobilities figure somewhat unevenly, with patterns of participation that involve moving away from one’s home region dominating popular and scholarly debate, leaving decisions to attend a local university, and, hence, to remain “at home” more marginalized. The various mobilities captured under the banner of “domestic” reflect complex ethnic, gendered, aged, and class-based preferences and structures that are tied to geographies of belonging and the circuits of global HE. As such, the most localized of these domestic mobilities – specifically the experiences of students who “stay at home” – are often represented as “immobility,” and a “stuckness” in place. The COVID-19 pandemic has, however, provided a moment to reflect on the ways that HE students are understood in terms of their (im)mobilities, and their stuckness. Restrictions on social interactions and the closure of educational institutions blurred distinctions between the “domestic” and learning, as teaching, socializing, and communicating became increasingly unstuck from time and space, and hybridized through digital technologies that (temporarily) disrupted accepted and authentic mobilities. Focusing on representations and experiences of domestic “stay at home” students during and beyond the pandemic, this chapter questions whether COVID-19 has been a missed opportunity for UK HE to consolidate new, sustainable strategies for inclusive student experiences, and finally recognize stay at home student mobilities as authentic.