Current International Students Research Articles

Below the Radar Agents: Roles of Virtual Mentors in the Decision-Making Process and Cultural Awareness of International Students

This paper investigates the impact of virtual mentors (VM) on the decision-making process and cultural awareness of prospective international students. It seeks to understand the translative function of virtual mentors by establishing a dialogue between Bourdieu's cultural intermediation and Barad’s new materialism. Employing a mixed-method approach, the study's findings indicate that prospective students deem the roles of VM crucial in their international education journey, with technology enhancing their access to resources facilitated by these mentors. However, students express a desire for greater cultural awareness in mentorship interactions within the virtual space. The study recommends that stakeholders should invest in providing culturally responsive digital mentorship to support the experience of both prospective and current international students.

Applying Behavioral Economics to Social Capital to Increase International Enrollment in U.S. Community Colleges

ABSTRACT At a time when international student enrollment has been declining at community colleges for more reasons than just the pandemic, this paper attempts to address a gap in the literature to assist community colleges with their enrollment by helping them recruit international students. While there are many suggestions for improving international enrollment numbers, they are often financially costly. Given the budgets of community colleges and how international students choose their post-secondary institutions, community colleges are best able to raise international enrollment by concentrating on improving the campus experience for their current international students. To do so, this paper is the first to apply insights from behavioral economics to see how they might help increase the social capital of international students to boost international enrollment. Outside the classroom, international students may be helped by the college employing behavioral biases such as the availability bias and status quo bias and the heuristic known as the foot-in-the-door to raise their social capital with domestic students and using the information overload and choice overload to increase their social capital with academic counselors. Inside the classroom, faculty members can employ behavioral biases like the appeal to authority and the in-group bias to help international students increase their social capital with domestic students.

International students' employability: a language socialization perspective

PurposeThis study introduces a non-orthodox approach to the dominant policy-based approaches to graduate employability through contextualizing international students’ everyday experiences within their educational and wider structural contexts of the labour market.Design/methodology/approachThe study used narrative frames to collect data from 180 international students from China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Nepal at a New Zealand tertiary institution. Narrative frames as a research tool in educational contexts are used to ellicit the experiences of individuals in the form of a story as participants reflect on their experience. The frames use sentence starters to draw responses from participants about their experiences (Barkhuizen and Wette, 2008).FindingsThis study argues that, through a socialization process, international students develop identities that fit an ever-changing labour market. This process is catalysed by a higher education landscape that produces career-ready subjects capable of appropriating different social spaces that prepare students and graduates to enter the labour market. Further, it argues that graduate employability should be understood as a complex process through which students and graduates socialise themselves through negotiating the socioacademic spaces by (1) familiarising themselves with the dominant workspace norms, (2) positioning themselves as more career-ready individuals, and (3) imagigining employable selves capable of meeting the needs of the job market.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations. Only one data collection source has been used. It would have been great to use narrative frames along with interviews. In addition, the data would have been stronger if the researcher could have used classroom observations, which could be a future initiative.Practical implicationsThis study could provide practical insights to tertiary institutions about international students’ developing capabilities and identities so they could better prepare themselves for the world of work. Further, this study provides insights about some of the challenges that international students face in tertiary contexts to become career-ready. Hence, educators could employ strategies to better support these learners in their everyday learning spaces. This study also has useful benefits for future and current international students and international graduates regarding what investments they need to make so they can better socialize themselves in their tertiary and workplace practices.Social implicationsThis study has social implications. It helps international students better understand the social, cultural and academic expectations of their host countries. Therefore, they could better socialize themselves into those practices and contribute more effectively to their academic and workplace communities. The study also helps academic and workplace institutions strategize more effectively to address the social and cultural needs of international graduates. The study also contributes to the social and cultural understanding of the teachers that engage with international students on a daily basis by helping them devise activities that better address these students’ and graduates’ needs.Originality/valueThe study adds theoretical and methodological value to the debates around graduate employability. It includes the voices of 180 students and unravels their day-to-day experiences of capability building and employability development from their own perspectives.

A STUDY ON SATISFACTION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN CHINA

Currently, China has become one of the countries with the largest increase in the number of international students in the world, but the current evaluation of the quality of higher education in China does not focus on the satisfaction of international students in China. Therefore, this study examines the quality of education in China from the perspective of international students. The current situation provides ideas for university development to improve the quality of education for studying abroad in China. Based on the research on student satisfaction and the actual experience of managing international students, the theoretical aspects of international student satisfaction in China were constructed according to five indicators: hardware, teacher qualifications, application achievements, management services, and learning outcomes, and the International Students Program in China was developed accordingly. The satisfaction scale is used to conduct surveys and collect data, and to find out the status quo of international students’ satisfaction in China and its influencing factors. Through descriptive statistics and analysis of variance, the study suggests that the current international students in China are highly satisfied with Chinese education and scholarship, and that the level of knowledge of the Chinese language could significantly affect the satisfaction of international students in China.

International students in the lesser-known part of Asia: The mosaic of experiences in a Vietnamese higher education institution

The quest for global ranking has motivated higher education institutions (HEIs) in Vietnam to increase the number of international students in their enrolments. However, little is known about experiences of current international students in Vietnamese HEIs. This article offers a mosaic of international student experiences (ISE) in a Vietnamese-taught course offered by a Vietnamese university. The data show that teaching staffs play a crucial role in the satisfaction of international students, however, services and physical facilities are areas that need significant improvement. It also discusses other interactive aspects of ISE before presenting the case of an international student with disability to show how international mobility, aspiration, and personal determination can navigate him through a journey that was nothing short of extraordinary. This article is also to answer the recent scholarly call for a more geographically diverse and transformation-centred ISE literature, which is believed to remain relevant in the future.

Agency in change: Learning experiences of international midwifery students in South Australia

ProblemWhile literature reports broadly on the experiences of international students of health professions in higher education, the experience of students undertaking an undergraduate midwifery program outside their country of origin has not previously been reported. BackgroundMidwifery studies incorporate distinct clinical practice and discipline-specific therapeutic relationships which can challenge students familiar with the health system, so it is necessary to understand their impact on the learning needs of international students, who contribute to the diversity of our workforce. AimTo explore learning experiences of international students of an undergraduate midwifery program to identify their perceptions and personal strategies which impacted their participation in the program. MethodsA qualitative descriptive study, with a purposive sample of nine current international students and recent graduates of a midwifery program at a South Australian university. Participants attended a focus group or individual phone interview to explore their learning experiences, and data were thematically analysed. FindingsFive themes and sub-themes were identified, built around a core concept of the international midwifery student experience as agency in change: language and culture, teaching and learning, isolation and integration, services and support, and motivation and resilience. Studying abroad was associated with personal and professional growth. Continuity of care for women presented challenges and produced learnings unique to this cohort. ConclusionTailored support, such as specialized clinical facilitation and organized peer networking, is required for international midwifery students in Australia. Additionally, effective approaches to facilitate bilingualism to support language concordant care are needed.

Internationalization in Russian universities during the pandemic of COVID‐19: Lessons for succeeding in the new reality

The pandemic of COVID‐19 became a resilience test for internationalization in Russia and emphasized many systemic trends, both promising and concerning. The turbulence and instability during the pandemic initiated the growth of internationalization activities at the institutional level in two directions: first, it increased attention to the quality of work with current international students, including student support, adaptation issues, student engagement, and second, due to the risks in student enrolment, it brought universities to rethink their internationalization instruments and strategies for work with international applicants and future students. Indeed, the ongoing changes in global education call for reconsideration of the priorities and methods of internationalization: new forms of internationalization become widespread practices, new instruments are necessary for student recruitment, and new push and pull factors come into play. While internationalization of education in Russia during the pandemic was addressed at the national level to a degree, the universities carried out the key activities and had to come up with solutions “in the field”. The paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of Russia's transition through the pandemic and tackle the changes at the university level, based on a comparison of data of the survey of international departments of Russian universities conducted in 2020 and the survey of 2021, supported by semi‐structured interviews. The research offers insights on the capacity for change and resilience in Russian universities within the internationalization domain and can help to develop data‐driven approaches for improvement of organizational capacity of universities.

The impact of extracurricular activities and engagement on international graduates' employability: OPAIC alumni 2019

The high level of dissatisfaction from an employability perspective and decreasing employment rate of international students in New Zealand is an increasing concern for higher education providers and their students. Education New Zealand research in 2019 and Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus Graduate Outcome report 2019 support these findings. It highlights a need for a strategy to develop and enhance international student employability skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between the graduates’ employability and their participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs) and the outcomes from their involvement. This study explored the views of Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus alumni who graduated in 2019 from various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Using descriptive and thematic analysis, this study analysed the impact of extracurricular activities on Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus graduates’ employability. Convenience sampling was used for data collection. A total of 112 participants completed an online survey, and 7 participants undertook semi-structured interviews. The data collected from the survey identified the level of engagement in different extracurricular activities, the motivations to participate, the barriers to participation, the development of soft skills from graduates’ perspective, and employment rates. Using the descriptive analysis, data was compared and correlated. The data collected from interviews provided an in-depth understanding of how international students perceive the benefits of engagement in extracurricular activities and shared their outcomes. Recommendations were provided for future and current international students and to Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus as a facilitator of employability skills development based on the findings.

Engage international grad students, alumni to support recruitment goals

TORONTO — International students can be a vital part of your graduate enrollment management plan. To convince them your institution is right for them, enlist your current international students and alumni in your recruitment efforts. Katie Beczak, Assistant Director of International Outreach and Admissions at the Rochester Institute of Technology, explained how she uses international graduate students at all stages of the student life cycle in recruitment efforts at a session at the NAGAP, The Association of Graduate Enrollment Management annual conference.

Engage international grad students, alumni to support recruitment goals

TORONTO — International students can be a vital part of your graduate enrollment management plan. To convince them your institution is right for them, enlist your current international students and alumni in your recruitment efforts. Katie Beczak, Assistant Director of International Outreach and Admissions at the Rochester Institute of Technology, explained how she uses international graduate students at all stages of the student life cycle in recruitment efforts at a session at the NAGAP, The Association of Graduate Enrollment Management annual conference.

Graduate mobility: Where do dentistry graduates choose to practise?

The international higher education market has grown and developed rapidly. International students generate attractive income for host universities, and gaining an international education benefits students in an increasingly globalised world. However, there is little research regarding where international students intend to work andsettle beyond graduation. This study investigated where dentistry students intended to practise after graduation, and whether international students who graduated between 2001 and 2016 are currently practising in their host country (New Zealand) or have migrated overseas. A cross-sectional survey was used to investigate current students' intended destination of practice after graduation. Additionally, names of international graduates since 2001 were matched against the 2017 register of practitioners to determine if they were currently registered to practise in their host country. A frequency and bivariate analysis was conducted. Almost 64% of current international students indicated their intention to stay in their host country after graduation. However, only 22% of graduates since 2001 were currently practising in New Zealand. The number of international graduates who registered to practise in New Zealand increased between 2001 and 2016. Less than one-quarter of international graduates were currently practising in their host country; however, longitudinal data showed that this is an increasing trend. These findings can be used to inform how we might prepare current and future graduates for both local and globalisedlabour markets.

The Journey and Experience of International Students: an Insight From a UK University

This research is an explanatory study of the learning experience of international students when they come to study at UK. Survey collected from both undergraduate and postgraduate students who are studying at the University of The West of Scotland (UWS). The survey consisted on many dimensions such as selection and admission, pre arrival activities, induction, orientation, teaching and learning and engagement. Our results provide some recommendations for academic staff and for international office at UWS. For academic staff, they should integrate the international dimension while they are designing their courses. They should implement interactive lectures and involve the international students into discussions. For staff who are working in the international office, they should attend training on how to deal with international students to be able to offer good service for them. They might ask for current international students to help in recruiting international students. Our study has a number of limitations that should be taken into account in future research. The focus on this study was on one university only. Future research should collet data from different universities to allow for comparisons. This is the first study to explore the whole experience of the international students. More research is needed to focus on each of the dimensions separately i.e induction, engagement, etc…

International Students Dictionary

According to Study Destination USA's website, The Ultimate International Student Dictionary for International Students Studying in the USA was created to give transferring international students help with the unique terminology used in universities and colleges in the United States. From experience, the staff at Study Destination USA understands the challenges future or current international students will experience, such as adapting to a new academic culture to understanding the nuances of the university language.

Using Distance Learning to Prepare International Students for the Classroom

The Office of International Programs and Services uses two online tools (the iCenter@Mason and the International Student Launchpad) to better prepare incoming international students for their study at Mason. These tools serve as a pre-arrival guide and educate students about important policies and processes. Current international students have asked for additional instructional modules, such as US classroom culture and academic expectations. Additionally, faculty have expressed that there are certain definitions, standards, and common understanding that they would like international students to have before they arrive in the classroom. During this poster session, the presenters will demonstrate the current online tools. Participants will have an opportunity to contribute to the development of an additional online module based on their experiences with international students. The new module will be launched in spring 2016.

International students of speech and language therapy in the UK: Choices about where to study and whether to return

The qualification leading to professional practice in speech and language therapy (SLT, also known as speech and language pathology) is not evenly available across the world. Geographic mobility and the availability of information are greater than at any other time in our history. Thus, initial SLT qualification courses in many countries are likely to have students from overseas among their intake. The professional nature of SLT programmes means that many aspects are culturally and linguistically bound. This may impact adversely on international students’ success on such courses. A study of all initial SLT qualifying courses in the UK was undertaken to identify the countries of origin of past and current international students, to explore the reasons behind their decision to study in the UK and to find out where and in what role they planned to work, or were already working, on qualification. Analysis of questionnaire and interview data revealed a wide variety of reasons for studying in the UK; linguistic, cultural, financial, and personal. The students come primarily from Europe, particularly Greece; but also from Asia; Africa and the Americas. Familiarity with English language and the perceived status of UK higher education, together with the related colonial and post-colonial links between the student’s country of origin and the UK, appear to have an impact on students’ decision to study in the UK. The short- and long-term employment plans of respondents are discussed, along with factors influencing decisions about whether to work in Britain, their home country or elsewhere.