The covid pandemic had a significant impact on international mobility, which includes also international student mobility (ISM). With many national borders closed at the beginning of the pandemic and high uncertainty for the following semesters, the planning and realisation of ISM became a very difficult, if not impossible, task for students. ISM in general is less accessible and realised by first-generation students compare to their academic peers (Bilencen & van Mol, 2017; Di Pietro, 2019; Hauschildt et al., 2018; Netz & Finger, 2016). This then poses the question, how the pandemic influenced ISM-related activities of first-generation students differently. Following this question with a dataset of 26 qualitative interviews with German management students from various social background, this paper addresses profound and minor differences of the realisation and change of ISM plans between first-generation students and students from academic families. Management as a discipline represents a particular well-fitting field for studying such variety, because the expectation and realisation of ISM in management is especially high (Prado et al., 2021) and mirrors symbolic power and competitive advantage in a globalised discipline and job market. The analysis looks into those cases which were directly affected mobility-wise by the pandemic and compares them based on their social background in theoretical connection with capital theory (Bourdieu 1986, Prazeres 2019, Tran 2016). The theoretical understanding of capital equipment and configuration based on social origin allows for a relational and critical comparative perspective on the effects of the covid pandemic on ISM, which understands ISM not only as a subjective preference but as an instrument for distinction and social advantage. While the pandemic forcefully altered ISM plans for all students, the reactions to the new situation varied due to the academic and economic ability and confidence of the students in question. My paper will show that the pandemic redirected first-generation students to domestic options or put their ISM plans on hold, left only with their vague hope for a possible realisation in the near future. While student with academic background were much more relaxed about the outlook of postponement and possible prolongation of their studies, or even used the new situation to their advantage. The pandemic amplified consequences of the scarcity of time and money for first-generation students. The findings are then discussed in the overarching context of HE instruments for first-generation students.

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