Abstract
This research adopted a typological approach to explore international students' academic engagement in China. Using data generated by a survey study involving 801 international undergraduate students at 34 full-time Chinese universities, this research developed an international student engagement typology, and examined important individual and learning environment factors associated with the engagement types presented in the typology. The international student engagement typology helps to understand and enhance international undergraduate students' learning experiences in Chinese HEIs. Although located in China, this research holds implications for practitioners in broader contexts striving for the sustainable development of international student education.
Highlights
China is the largest international student source country globally, but it has been enhancing its attractiveness to inwardly mobile students over the past decade
The results showed that the respondents perceived their academic engagement less positively than their classroom or campus learning environments
The three-category typology, developed using k-means cluster analysis and validated by discriminant analysis, classified the respondents’ engagements as active, passive or insufficient. These findings confirmed the usefulness of a typological approach in understanding international student engagement at Chinese universities and, in line with the previous research, revealed that the engagement types presented in the typology were related to international students’ demographic backgrounds and their perceived learning environment factors
Summary
China is the largest international student source country globally, but it has been enhancing its attractiveness to inwardly mobile students over the past decade. An exploratory interview study (Tian and Lowe, 2018) showed that the major reason for international degree students’ decision to study in China was to gain a qualification that would lead to employment, whereas it was the education they received, rather than their social or cultural experiences, that attracted these students’ most complaints. National surveys on college student engagement are conducted annually in America (Kuh, 2003, 2009a), Australia (Coates, 2010), and several Asian countries, such as China (Shi et al, 2014). The typological approach differentiates college students into distinct groups based on the analysis of their engagement characteristics (Hu and McCormick, 2012). The approach allows institutions to compare the results with peer institutions or with the data from the previous years, highlighting the strength in practice and weakness for improvement
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