International Capital and Student Body Composition at an International Private School

Abstract

This article analyses the composition and distribution of cultural capital amongst students at an international private school, drawing on data from 270 students’ LinkedIn profiles and 27 semi-structured interviews. International education literature suggests that national middle classes are reinventing themselves by acquiring international properties. Studying at a school like the College of Europe provides the opportunity to not only study social groups from one nation but from many. Findings show that while the College of Europe tends to recruit a socially homogenous student body with strong international dispositions, there is a variation within the student body, which impacts how they perceive and value the school. Three groups of students were identified based on social class and international capital. For the “international inheritors”, the school represented a social paradise and was a continuation of investment into the international, a strategy of social reproduction. For the “international social climbers”, the school represented an opportunity for upward social mobility. Most students, however, belonged to the group of “international aspirants”. For them, the school represented a strategy for social distinction by further accumulating international capital and reconverting their national scholarly capital into certified international capital. These findings suggest that, in the case of the College of Europe, international education is used by European national middle classes to reinvent themselves rather than social reproduction or upward mobility.