• Boundaries for Russian HE are harder in EHEA than in CIS, EEU, SCO and BRICS. • Spatial imaginaries places Russian HE among global and Eurasian leaders. • Russian HEIs do not participate in shaping spatial imaginaries of Russian HE. • Spatial imaginaries and internationalization policy goals contradict implementation. • Privileged internationalization shapes neocoloniality of Russian HE. The article considers how and at which recent historical and political junctures documents, experts and academics frame the internationalization of Russian higher education (HE) in the course of neoliberal reforms. Asking how new boundaries for Russian HE have re-emerged, re-imaged and aligned with internationalization policy, we explore whether the current trend of isolation for Russian HE is realistic. For this purpose, we examine the regional spaces and spatial imaginaries of Russian HE, investigate how and why they contradict with the principles and particularly, implementation of internationalization policy. We develop the concept of ‘shadows in internationalization’, exploring how a privileged internationalization, understood as a set of deliberately built decision-making mechanisms to provide the rent extraction for policy insiders, hinders quality and equity in Russian HE and its regional spaces outside. We outline how and why Russia’s leadership have incorporated quantitative evaluation criteria for internationalization policy amidst neoliberal reforms, and juxtapose them with implementation realities. In doing so, we focus on internationalization activities which Russian universities are obliged to develop in HE and dynamics of related publications of Russia-affiliated scholars to reveal their alignment with the spatial imaginaries. We conclude that implementation of internationalization policy based on Western criteria, coupled with monopolisation of privileges and a traditional rigidity of university governance, contradict spatial imaginaries of a globalising and internationalising of Russian HE in prioritised regional spaces and worldwide. We argue that this contradiction continues to undermine the quality and cohesion of national and regional spaces of Russian higher education from inside.

• Student academic freedom violations can be categorized by source/visibility in authoritarian contexts. • "Activism as academic freedom" and "activism for academic freedom" as distinct yet interrelated responses to violations. • Socio-political divisions among HE actors challenge the unity assumption of academic communities. • The concept of de-membership apprehends the erosion of student capabilities that result from compromised partnership between universities, staff/faculty and students. • The socio-anthropological perspective uncovers the relational and experiential dimensions of academic freedom (violations). This article investigates the relationship between student academic freedom, educational experiences, and activism within authoritarian contexts, adopting a socio anthropological lens. Drawing on an ex-post comparative analysis of studies on Turkey and Belarus, the research is grounded in in-depth interviews with 47 students (29 from Turkey, 18 from Belarus). First, the study develops a typology of academic freedom violations that students encounter, identifying variations along two critical axes: the source of the violations and their visibility. Each type significantly yet differently impacts students’ capability development and membership to the academic community. Secondly, the article examines the resultant forms of student mobilization, fruitfully distinguishing between activism as academic freedom and activism for academic freedom. Student experiences reveal how these interrelated strategies, employed both nationally and transnationally, evolve across time and contexts. Ultimately, this article advocates for a holistic and relational understanding of academic freedom. Such an approach acknowledges the mutual dependencies and potential discrepancies between diverse members of university communities (students, faculty, staff, governance) and recognizes the significance of experiences and responses that transcend national borders. It underscores the need to consider student perspectives and transnational dimensions in defense of academic freedom, particularly in restrictive political environments.

• This article analyses the Indo-Pacific host community perspective on engaging with Australian students. • It conceptualises the process of hosting as connecting, becoming and internationalising. • The article provides unique insights into the expansion of hosts’ capabilities and opportunities through hosting. • It also investigates the tensions and challenges facing the Indo-Pacific communities in hosting Australian students. There has been a growing body of the literature on outbound student mobility, particularly around major programs such as ASEAN International Mobility for Students (AIMS), Australia’s New Colombo Plan (NCP), Europe’s Erasmus+, the UK’s Turing Scheme, the US’s Global Undergraduate Study Abroad Programme, and the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP). However, most research has focused on the experiences of students in host regions, primarily from the perspectives of students, academics, and stakeholders in the sending countries. Less attention has been given to the views and experiences of the host communities. This article addresses this critical gap in the literature by using empirical evidence from interviews with host communities in the Indo-Pacific and applying Amartya Sen’s capability approach to conceptualise the act of hosting Australian outbound students. It focuses on the voices of the host communities engaged in the New Colombo Plan (NCP), which is an Australian government initiative launched in 2014 to enhance knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region among Australian undergraduates by supporting their study and internships in the region. This article explores how host institutions and organisations benefit from hosting NCP students and analyses the tensions they encounter in the process. The study’s findings deepen our understanding by conceptualising hosting as connecting, internationalising, and becoming. This framework provides valuable perspectives on how North-South study-abroad programs influence regional engagement, public diplomacy and capabilities from the viewpoint of host communities.

This experimental study investigated the effectiveness of Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) based Student Worksheets in enhancing metacognitive skills among eleventh grade students learning Chemical Equilibrium. Utilizing a one group pretest posttest design with 36 participants, the intervention implemented specially designed worksheets integrating POGIL's inquiry cycle with explicit metacognitive scaffolding. Metacognitive skills comprising planning, monitoring, and evaluating components were measured through validated essay instruments before and after four instructional sessions. Statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test revealed a significant improvement in overall metacognitive skills (Z = -5.197, p < 0.001, large effect size d = 2.47). Notably, 94.44% of students demonstrated measurable progress, with normalized gain scores indicating high improvement in planning (g = 0.82), moderate improvement in evaluating (g = 0.51), and moderate improvement in monitoring (g = 0.48). These findings substantiate that POGIL based worksheets, when designed with intentional metacognitive prompts, effectively foster the development of higher order regulatory skills essential for mastering complex chemical concepts. The study contributes to science education literature by demonstrating how inquiry based pedagogies can be optimized for metacognitive skill development.