Governing Foreign Graduate Retention in Small State Hubs: Domestic Policy Integration in Luxembourg, with Singapore as a Shadow Case

Abstract

Post-graduation policy pathways shape whether international graduates can remain after study, but the governance structures behind these pathways are underexplored in small state hubs. I examine this problem through Luxembourg, using Singapore as a narrower shadow case. Small state hubs are treated here as small states that combine limited domestic capacity with highly connected positions between regional and global systems, using niche economic strategies to mediate flows of labour, capital, and students. Luxembourg is the primary case because its 2023 legislation directly changed the post-study pathway available to eligible third-country graduates and researchers. Singapore is included because its 2023 COMPASS reform shaped the skilled-employment route into which international graduates may move after the post-study period. Drawing on a policy integration framework, I analyse parliamentary records, government documents, and official guidance across immigration, labour, housing, and integration domains. I argue that Luxembourg’s pathway is relatively permissive, offering a 12-month job-search period and dependent labour market access, but weakly coordinated across adjacent policy domains. Graduate retention appears in immigration reform without becoming a shared objective across the wider policy environment that shapes whether graduates can realistically remain. The Singapore contrast indicates that small-state-hub status does not preclude more selective skilled-migration criteria, while clarifying what Luxembourg gains in case-by-case flexibility and leaves less specified at the study-to-work transition. The article contributes to research on the education-migration nexus by shifting attention from retention outcomes to the domestic governance structures that make post-graduation pathways more or less coherent.