To be prepared for changing student talent pools in emerging geographical markets, and to remain attractive to the coming waves of student mobility, the European higher education sector must improve its ability to absorb international student talent in greater numbers. This paper presents an analysis of the nature and value of university-industry partnering as a means of attracting and retaining global student talent. The authors argue that global student talent recruitment lies at the heart of "knowledge transfer through people". With this in mind, an inclusive picture of the university-industry partnering phenomenon is provided; and the role of collaborative experiencing and learning is examined. It was found that even university-industry collaborative practice dealing with global issues remains local in terms of engagement. The paper demonstrates that, by using interpretive and participatory methods, new insights can be gained into the university-industry practice of partnering to promote the attraction and retention of global student talent. (Contains 8 notes.)