The Segmented Mobility of Globally Mobile Academics: A Case Study of Foreign Professors at a Korean University

In this paper, we examine 15 academics who crossed national borders in response to the strong pull of recruiting efforts from a Korean university. These foreign professors at the case university are on tenure-stream and teach regular academic courses in various academic departments and colleges. By discussing their motivations for global mobility, their professional experiences and plans for crossing national borders in the future, we found that these professors seek to remain within a boundary, preparing for the possibility of future mobility. Therefore, the seemingly fluid global mobility of highly educated academics has many layers of boundaries which are tightly connected by the cultural and language proximity academics have. With this, the concept of segmented mobility (e.g. physical or profession versus personal or psychological) is developed in the context of global mobility of academics.