Situated Learning – Foreign Sites as Learning Contexts

As part of the globalization effort, study abroad has been researched in the fields of education, business, language, etc. However, what is not well-discussed is how foreign sites in study abroad programs can function as learning contexts to promote in-depth learning in various subject areas, which was the purpose of this study. Twelve participants from one public research university involved in some study abroad programs were interviewed. Documents such as syllabi and travel plans relevant to participants’ trip were also collected. The data were analyzed inductively. The findings show that foreign sites serve as learning context to support students’ learning by (a) providing cues to understand new knowledge from different perspectives; (b) providing a context to understand the meaning behind words; (c) providing minute details tying facts towards abstract knowledge; and (d) creating a space for stimulating emotional attachments.

Comparison of First-Year International Students' Adjustment to College at the Undergraduate and Graduate Level

Predictors of first-year undergraduate and graduate international students’ adjustment to college were examined using an online survey in 2019. The research sample consisted of 95 international students attending two universities in the United States. Findings showed a statistically significant difference between first-year graduate and undergraduate international students, as related to college adjustment. Further analysis discovered significant relationships among the predictor variables - resilience, relational skills, acculturative stress - and the criterion variable, which is adjustment to college, explaining 55% of the variance. Implications of findings for educators, college counselors, and college administrators, are provided, as well as directions for future research.

Factors Affecting Competitiveness in University Ranking Exercises

In recent years, international and national university ranking exercises have become commonplace, serving a host of stakeholders and beneficiaries including students, institutions, and governments. As such, they have drawn increasing scrutiny from academics and other observers, many of whom have called into question the integrity of the methodologies employed, and thus the outcomes of the process. By contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to largely external factors that can affect a given institution’s ability to compete within a given ranking exercise, such as their corporate status, geographic location, and/or access to resources. Building on previous work examining the impact of such “extraneous” factors, this study undertakes a quantitative analysis of the best-known university ranking exercise in Brazil to better understand the impact of such variables, both within other national contexts and well beyond.

Level of Academic Performance Among Faculty Members in the Context of Nepali Higher Educational Institution

Academic performance is taken as the process of carrying out academic activities and discourses by faculty members to enhance their academic activities and discourses. The purpose of this research was to identify the faculty member's level of academic performance in higher educational institutions. To conduct this research, a quantitative methodology was employed. The tools to measure the academic performance of faculty members were developed using Delphi method. The data were collected with 445 sampled respondents from four universities. The factor analysis was used to explore the dimensions of academic performance. The factor analysis identified four factors of academic performance i.e., research and publication, innovation, interactive learning, and capacity building. To analyze the level of academic performance, mean and the standard deviation was used. It was found that individual differences and the organizational environment, culture, and technological infrastructure were crucial to influence the pace and level academic performance in academia.

Review of: Mayo, P. (2019). Higher Education in a Globalising World: Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning. Manchester University Press.

Book Review, no abstract

Newly Arrived South Asian Students’ Experience with the Canadian Healthcare System

In this article, we report on the experiences of newly arrived South Asian international students (undergraduate and graduate levels) with accessing healthcare services in a small town setting in British Columbia, Canada. The objective of the study was to better understand the barriers and facilitators of accessing healthcare services. We used a qualitative design with an exploratory approach and conducted 8 semi-structured interviews with South Asians students that had newly arrived in the city of Kamloops and had been enrolled at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) for less than 12 months. Findings included barriers such as needing more information during on campus orientation, inefficiencies of the healthcare system, and accessing healthcare service. Facilitators of accessing healthcare services included attending campus orientation, having a curiosity, and a social support system. These findings provide new knowledge regarding the barriers and facilitators of accessing healthcare in Canada. In order to better meet the needs of international students programs and services must be tailored to this unique group of students.

Theoretical Perspectives on International Student Identity

Interest in international student identity has grown considerably over the last few years. In the context of international education, the emphasis on identity and the individual student may also be seen as an emerging response to the tendency of discussing international students and their identity-related experiences in homogenising ways. While there is considerable discussion about how international students’ sense of self is affected by cultural differences in higher education, a theory of identity is not always in place. The purpose of this paper is to bring together three theoretical perspectives on identity that are designed to account for specific cultural, social, and linguistic influences on identity construction. These perspectives are examined with examples from data-based case studies. This paper identifies the unique affordances of each perspective while also highlighting their mutual role in challenging broad discourses that have unfavourably defined international student identity.

Mission Statements of Japanese Civil Society Organizations Supporting International Students in the Kansai Area

This study is applying critical discourse analysis (CDA) to mission statements of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Kansai area of Japan to examine how those texts may be reflecting their views on migration and impacting their practices related to international students. The analysis shows similarities across CSO types in choosing organizational names, using vague and bureaucratic vocabulary for formulating their mission statements, as well as confusing and contradictory style of some statements and event announcements that may be misleading or discouraging for potential members. At the same time, diversity of vocabulary referring to their target audience demonstrates shifting perspectives of CSOs on international students and more generally, on foreigners living in Japan.

Tensions, Transformations and Travel

This paper discusses the dynamic and complex dimensions of ‘becoming’ a cosmopolitan teacher educator through an overseas study tour. It employs autobiography as a research method to interpret the experiences of an overseas study tour, and how it has engaged the teacher educators in self-reflexivity of their negotiation of multiple identities: academic, personal and cultural. Our self-narratives reveal how becoming cosmopolitan educators is not only intimately linked to the process of re-construction of oneself as a reflexive person. The process can also be conflicting and unsettling because of how we were positioned by our pre-service teachers. It concludes by highlighting the conditions in which our multiple identities come into existence and how they shape our ways of becoming, and the need for teacher educators to engage in a continual process of professional development as cosmopolitan teacher educators.