Impact of international student transnational migration on social engagement and public governance

Drawing on a twelve-month concurrent mixed-methods design that combined a cross-sectional survey (N = 1,240), 14.8 million platform-level digital-trace observations, and a randomized field intervention, this study examines the extent to which international student mobility reshapes civic participation and public-governance dynamics. The analysis identifies three major patterns. First, multilevel regression models show that every additional year spent abroad is associated with a 0.27-point increase (SE = 0.04) in a five-point hybrid-engagement index, controlling for socioeconomic background, language proficiency, and prior civic exposure. Second, difference-in-differences estimation reveals that a policy-literacy workshop raised the odds of formal volunteering by 42 % (OR = 1.42, 95 % CI 1.281.57) and boosted perceived municipal responsiveness by 0.34 SD. Finally, network analytics demonstrate that workshop participants expanded the transnational density of their online governance networks by 18.9 % while simultaneously reinforcing local bridging ties, suggesting a dual anchoring of engagement. The findings illuminate how cross-border education catalyzes novel, layered forms of civic involvement and exposes blind spots in representation and service delivery, offering concrete design principles for host-city institutions intent on leveraging student voices for participatory governance reforms.