This thesis examines aspects of emergent transnational mobility within the experience of students advancing their education at tertiary institutions, private training establishments and language schools. In particular it focuses on the everyday practices and experiences of one group of international students from South Korea during their time in Auckland, New Zealand. The context for the research is that over the last decade the growth of international students and the institutions associated with their movement and education have begun to have significant economic, social and cultural implications in New Zealand, particularly in Auckland. Here, the rapid increase in the number and proportion of students from three East-Asian nations (China, South Korea and Japan) has contributed to profound changes in the socio-cultural geographies of Auckland’s central city. The aim of this study is to interrogate the everyday urban encounters of South Korean international students as a means to more deeply understand the phenomenon of crossing borders to learn. I employ a multi-method and multi-sited research approach that draws on both orthodox and emergent techniques within human geography and related social sciences. Through these methods I focus on the individual and collective practices and experiences of these students as key actors in the developments associated with international education. At all times the focus is on ‘the everyday’ and the ways in which students negotiate their encounters between South Korea and Auckland. In theoretical terms the thesis is situated at the border between the study of transnationalism and the study of cities. It identifies the ways that the transnational mobility and activity of students alongside others is involved in the changing spaces of Auckland’s urban landscape. These changed spaces include physical, economic, sensory and perceptual landscapes of the city. In addition the thesis also illustrates the concurrent production, maintenance and resistance of pre-existing and new identities; the often difficult, highly structured and uneven landscape that emerges as a result of the interaction between individuals and groups who consider each-other ‘foreign’; and the way that these types of interactions in contemporary cities are facilitated by but also maintain and produce increasing transnationalism. The thesis concludes by illustrating the fundamental role that cities play in the practice of international education and the resulting importance of international education to the everyday realities of contemporary cities like Auckland. / University of Auckland; ASIA:NZ Foundation and NZ Asian Studies Society; Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences Network (BRCSS); Royal Society of New Zealand

In this phenomenological study, I examined the educational experiences of six international doctoral students of Education at a Midwestern university. The purpose of this study is to understand how the participants make meaning of their educational experiences. Several theories influenced this study. These include critical theory, co-cultural theory, transformative learning theory and the concept of cultural scripts. A qualitative approach was used to gather detailed data from the participants. Data collection included a series of three in-depth, semi-structured interviews with each participant and two focus group interviews. All of the data collected were carefully coded, looking for three central topics of self reflection, transformative experiences, and meaning making. The participants' understanding of their transformation as learners tied closely to their academic accomplishments, which include completing tasks and assignments, being accepted in academic community, having articles published in academic journals, and presenting their academic work at conferences. Much of their transformation and meaning making related to their instrumental learning. The study suggests that educators should encourage students to broaden their frames of reference by inviting them to engage in meaningful discussion that is beyond instrumental learning in order for the students to develop critical thinking and to be in charge and accountable for their learning towards critical consciousness.

According to Harman (2004), international students were one of the main sources of finance in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These students may face many difficulties once they arrive in countries like the UK, trying to adjust to their new surroundings. They confront, for example, more difficulties and challenges than the British students beginning a university course, especially if English is not their first language and the culture of their motherland is substantially different from British culture. Apart from language and cultural barriers, other reported difficulties include high academic demand, missing family and friends, lack of social support, lower self-confidence, deficiencies with study skills and a need to have more assertiveness (Poyrazli et al., 2002). Currently, not enough research has been published regarding acculturative stress and social support, including its relationship with psychological mental health amongst international students studying at UK universities. The main purposes of this study were threefold: (1) investigate the association between mental health and psychosocial variables amongst both international and British students (in UK universities); (2) explore the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of international students in the context of acculturation, while they study abroad in the UK universities; and finally (3) to triangulate and integrate the findings of this study obtained from two distinct approaches of combined results. A concurrent triangulation mixed methods design was employed, consisting of three main studies. (a) I (Pilot study): a quantitative study employing simple yet effective cross-sectional approaches through its intention to using sample data; (b) II (Main study): a quantitative method specifically utilising cross-sectional design using authoritative data; and (c) III: a qualitative research conducting semi-structured interviews (using two qualitative questionnaires) to examine the metaphors participants used to describe their experiences in the host society. Study I: A snowball purposive sampling technique was used to select 358 students (international and British) studying in UK universities. Three different UK universities were selected. Eight pre-existing questionnaires were first tested for validity and reliability, then were utilised to examine the relationships between mental health and seven other independent variables. Study II: A snowball purposive sampling technique was used to select 796 students (international and British) studying in UK universities. Ten different UK universities were selected. The previous eight pre-existing questionnaires used in Study I were used in Study II, but the difference was that GHQ-12 was replaced by GHQ-28, and the IAI and SAI forms of the Three Assimilation Indexes were excluded. Study III: A snowball purposive sampling technique was used to select 30 students (international) studying in three UK universities. A semi-structured interview was conducted with these students. This study used thematic analysis to categorise metaphors and analyse the qualitative data. With a response rate of 82%, Study I showed that international students from the Middle East are less affected by cultural distress than other students from outside of Europe. In addition, many students find themselves leaning more towards religion to deal with the new cultural environment. Study II had an 80% response rate and found that there was an association between three out of five predictor variables (coping flexibility, social support and coping) with mental health, for both international and British students. In addition, the study found that there was an association between three out of seven predictor variables (coping strategy, religious problem solving, and acculturation) with mental health in international students. In Study III, the metaphors supported the quantitative results in terms of finding that a substantial number of the respondents had negative feelings about living in the UK and found the new setting depressing. The findings of the two quantitative studies (Study I and Study II) found that there is an association between international students and British students and coping flexibility with mental health. This finding has been confirmed by Study III which addressed metaphorical phrases used by international students. These findings indicate that interventions are strongly required in order to prevent and control potential psychological problems in both groups. The main recommendations are that regular training sessions should be provided for all international students, giving strategies for coping with the new culture. It is concluded that social support played a moderating role in the relationship between culture stress as well as mental health only in international students. These findings imply that strategies could be created to help students to cope with their mental issues and reduce the impact of distress they experience during their study. This might have a positive effect on their academic achievement consequently.

Mobility and migration are features of this global era. Thus, most higher education institutions are increasingly recruiting international students. Host institutions and countries benefit in many different ways from this recruitment; however, the experiences of international students are still under-researched. Although studies examining the linguistic and cultural challenges that are encountered by international students have started to emerge, little attention has been given to those who did not complete their studies, particularly doctoral students. This study sheds light on four Chinese international doctoral students and explores the reasons for their withdrawal from their studies in a Canadian context. Using a narrative methodological approach, data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth interviews in the participants’ native language: Mandarin. Four themes and two sub-themes emerged from the interview data. The themes included: academic interactions and integration; partnership and the perception of gender roles; family of origin and the importance of education; and educational differences between China and Canada. Participants’ experiences during their doctoral studies did influence their decisions to withdraw. Specifically, the incompatibility with supervisors was one factor that directly led to the withdrawal of some research participants. However, other factors played key roles as well. The participants’ intentions and willingness to fulfil their gender roles and family obligations impacted their decisions in various ways. In addition, their past experiences in China and certain aspects of Chinese culture seem to have shaped their expectations about education and the supervisory relationship. / Graduate / 2019-08-20

This research aimed to explore the dynamics of counsellors working cross-culturally with diverse clients in the context of counselling international students at Higher Education Institutes. A particular emphasis on exploring challenges of working cross-culturally with such a diverse group and the solutions to meet those challenges was investigated. Current trends in globalisation of education and the increasing numbers of foreign students entering universities create both problems and opportunities for how to meet the needs of this growing student population. Higher risk factors for distress and crisis are present for international students due to having additional pressures of adapting to a novel environment, establishing support networks, and overcoming culture shock in addition to the more common academic and financial stressors of college and university. The methodology of choice is a collective instrumental case study design that operates within a critical theory paradigm to develop an in-depth understanding of how different cases provide insight into working with diverse clients. Five British counsellors and five international students were recruited within the UK using purposeful convenience sampling through adverts and the professional networks of the researcher. Counsellors were interviewed within a single focus group and international students were interviewed individually in order to understand the researched phenomenon from both counsellor and client perspectives. Thematic Analysis was chosen to generate two separate streams of themes from both counsellor and international student groups in relation to identified challenges and solutions of working together. A second level of overarching themes was produced from comparing and contrasting responses across all participants. The findings highlight a rich heterogeneity within both groups of participants, showcasing the perspectives on both sides of the therapeutic encounter. Counsellors and students held similar and different perspectives on what they identified as challenges of working together -counsellors' vocalised a higher number of relational challenges and students' identified greater institutional barriers. Novice international students experienced increased challenges compared with seasoned international students suggesting that development of risk factors within this sub-group is a high priority to take into consideration when addressing international student needs. Viewing diversity as a positive resource was a shared solution discussed in both participant groups that relied on counsellors demonstrating liberal value systems. Both groups identified the need for institutional support to be increased with students requesting a more proactive community outreach. A dominant finding in terms of recommendations for working with diversity included the use of the pluralistic approach noting that there is no one right answer or model to work with diversity within people and that flexibility to adapt to each client was essential. The findings are not presented as definitive generalisable truths due to the small sample size, but provide contribution to a case-based understanding of how to provide support for diverse groups of students within Higher Education Institutions in order to reduce risk and increase well-being among the international student population.

Each year, thousands of international students move to the United States to pursue higher education. Over the past few years in particular, the numbers of international students enrolled at U.S.-American universities has been on a constant incline. Two of the biggest changes that international students may experience are the different expectations of classroom etiquette and participation in the U.S.-American classroom setting. Impacted by many years of exposure to West-centric approaches to pedagogical praxis, the U.S.-American classroom has been created as a privileged space in which, more often than not, West-centric epistemologies, approaches to pedagogy, and ways of knowledge production are privileged over others. For international students, the majority of whom do not come from Western cultures, this can be a very tough space to negotiate. In this dissertation, I look at the conceptualizations of voice and silence, in particular, in order to gain a better understanding of how these two concepts are experienced and negotiated by international students within the U.S.-American classroom setting at a medium-sized U.S.-American university located in a small town in the Midwestern region of the country. While many West-centric cultures conceptualize voice and silence as dichotomous, I argue that they form a continuum that is dialogic, communicative, fluid, contextual, and at times paradoxical. Furthermore, I argue that the meanings of silence and voice within the U.S.-American classroom space can have multiple meanings and be understood as different forms of communication and participation. For the purpose of this project, I selected the three meta discourses of postcolonial theory, critical (communication) pedagogy, and international student-centered research to help deconstruct the notion of international students as the “Other,” as well as the misconceptions of silence within the classroom. Postcolonial theory as the main anchor of this research, in particular, allowed me to engage in an in-depth discussion of how we can decolonize West-centric, U.S.-American classrooms and create more dialogic, inclusive, and intercultural spaces in which different epistemologies and ways of knowing and knowledge production can be included. Furthermore, I bring into dialogue the three selected meta discourses in order to create a more nuanced and inclusive conceptualization of voice and silence that moves away from West-centric binaries. I used critical complete-member ethnography (CCME), as developed by Dr. Satoshi Toyosaki (2011), as the main method for critical inquiry. CCME argues for the value that is derived from combining different ethnographic methods in order to create an accurate account of cultural practices, as well as “focus on communicative practices and processes” (p. 66). I incorporated an autoethnographic account that functions to position myself as a researcher as well as autoethnographic narratives and reflections throughout my data analysis. In addition, I extend the notion of membership as it is currently conceptualized within CCME to make the argument for CCME as a method for critical inquiry within intercultural communication, and not just intracultural communication, research. My research findings demonstrate that the West-centric, binaristic conceptualization of voice and silence within the U.S.-American educational system can create unwelcoming learning environments for international students who may feel positioned as the Other who do not fit in, or may feel excluded from dominant discourse by being silenced. The participants’ narratives indicate the meanings of and reasons for international students’ embodiments of silence within classroom settings are as multiple, contextual, and dialogic as the conceptualization of silence itself. The collected data support the argument of the complexity and contextuality of voice and silence, and further call for a reconceptualization of voice and silence as acceptable forms of classroom participation. Furthermore, the international student participants identified several reasons as to why they may choose to perform silence in the classroom. Finally, through the interviews I tried to create a dialogue among international students and instructors in order to address and deconstruct issues pertaining to the struggles of international students caused by U.S.-centric approaches to pedagogy as well as conceptualizations of voice, silence, and classroom participation. My research showed that it is imperative for us to engage in more inclusive, critical, yet compassionate dialogues across our differences in order to create glocalized, intercultural learning communities within U.S.-/Euro-/West-centric educational systems. We must attempt to create intercultural spaces within our classrooms that allow for and cherish diverse narratives, epistemologies, different ways of knowing, and different conceptualizations of voice, silence, and classroom participation within the U.S.-American classroom setting, in particular at a medium-sized U.S.-American university located in a small town in the Midwestern region of the country. This dissertation research privileges such dialogue by centering the narratives of international students, thus, moving them from the periphery to the center and allowing them the agency to address exclusionary pedagogical practices within the U.S.-American educational system that exclude them from dominant discourse.

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine and to explore international students’ perceptions of resilience and how they coped with stress during their pursuit of a college degree. This study also explored forms of assistance international students received while studying at the university, how students capitalized on their own qualities to overcome obstacles, and to discover resilience factors that empowered international students despite challenges they encountered during the course of study. The researcher utilized two surveys, namely the Resilience Scale (RS) (Wagnild & Young, 1993) and the Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI) (Amirkhan, 1990), and a focus group interview to collect data for the study. The sample of the study consisted of 117 students for the RS, 106 students for the CSI, and 6 students for the focus group. All students were internationals from a Midwestern university in the United States. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in the RS scores for both undergraduate and graduate international students or for females and males respectively. The study also confirmed that there was no significant difference in the CSI scores for undergraduate and graduate international students. However, there was a significant difference between females and males in their CSI scores, suggesting that females were more likely than males to seek social support when they encountered challenges in life. Qualitative data from the focus group yielded meaningful insights on the obstacles that international students had to overcome, assistance international students received while in the United States, and protective factors students possessed in order to be successful in the university. The study also included a factor analysis of the data that confirmed a 3-factor structure of CSI (labeled respectively as Problem Solving, Seeking Social Support, and Avoidance). Even though factor analysis also verified the original 25-item 5-factor structure of RS, yielding a 5-factor structure of resilience (Meaningfulness, Equanimity, Self-Reliance, Perseverance, and Existential Aloneness), due to several cross loadings of the variables onto the factors, the analysis failed to verify the same variables contributed to the original 5-factor in RS. Plausible explanations for the discrepancy of the study of RS were explored.

This dissertation investigates various micro and macro level domestic factors affecting attitudes towards immigrants and emigration of international students. The first chapter examines if an individual’s religiosity affects his attitude against immigrants in jobs in rich and poor countries using data from World Values Survey, wave 6 for the period 2010-2014. The main finding of this study is that per capita income affects an individual’s attitudes against immigrants in getting hired but religiosity does not matter in affecting attitudes of people against immigrants in rich and poor countries. The second chapter explores Europeans opposition against Muslims, Jewish and Roma immigrants based on perceived economic, religious and security threats in strong and weak economies using European Social Survey for the period 2014-2015. The results suggest that the state of economy dominates a respondent’s perception of economic, religious or security threats against banning Muslims, Jews and Roma immigrants. The third chapter sheds lights whether corruption in countries promote students to study abroad using data on outbound students from UNESCO for the period 1999-2015. The results indicate that corruption promotes emigration of international students for only high income countries in the sample but this result does not hold for low and middle income countries.

This study compares the official and the ideal duties and responsibilities of the director of international student affairs in selected institutions of higher education in the United States.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen S. Myers-Bowman / The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing acculturative stress among international students from the international student perspective. This study explored how acculturative stressors, social support and stress are related. In addition the study examined the significant socio-cultural and demographic predictors of acculturative stress. The Berry's acculturation stress research framework and Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective were used to guide this study. Data was collected using an online survey from international students across a cohort of eleven U.S universities. Of the 986 students who took the survey, only complete data from 606 students were included in the current study. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were employed to summarize and test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicated that students who were experiencing increased levels of difficulty with the acculturative stressors were more likely to experience higher levels of stress. In addition international students who reported high levels of collective social support were more likely to display less impact of acculturative stressors on acculturative stress. However, the unique moderating influences of various types of social support (family, friends and important others) on the relationship between acculturative stressor and stress was not supported. The findings on the socio-cultural and demographic predictors of acculturative stress suggested that using the assimilation mode and identifying marital status in the "others" category was indicative of lower stress. Lower income and self identified lower social class prior and during acculturation were predictive of higher acculturative stress levels. Findings highlight the fundamental role of the international student's social context and its impact on his/her acculturation process and outcomes. The findings have implications for professionals and scholars who work with international students in practice, education and policy. Suggestions for future research are also included.