Discussion Papers
Educational institutions in the service of transnational migration? Cases of Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Educational institutions in the service of transnational migration? Cases of Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Authors:
Breznik, M.
,
Oruč, N.
,
Bajt, V.
,
Kurta, A.
and
Šetinc Kočkovska, K.
Published: October 2025
Keywords:
Education-migration nexus, transnational migration, internationalisation of education, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract:
This paper examines higher education institutions as a factor facilitating international labour migration. Drawing on the notion of the education-migration nexus, it explores the role of higher education institutions as channels of labour migration in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina within the transnational labour migration regime. Our research data, obtained through the compilation of statistics, contextual factors, and interviews, show that educational institutions have resolved internal contradictions, such as declining enrolment in Slovenia and the lack of labour market absorption capacity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by aligning with migration policies. These linkages have led to international students being exploited as a workforce for sweatshops in Slovenia and to a workforce being produced for foreign labour markets in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This paper provides both a theoretical contribution and new empirical insights into the education-migration nexus from the perspectives of two Western periphery countries that have been largely neglected in the existing literature.
