Expanding the comfort zones: Divergent practices of host and international university students

Abstract

Expanding the comfort zones: Divergent practices of host and international university studentsHost and international students evolve side-by side within the expanding internationalization of higher education. This study takes the complementary perspective of analysing 1,900 host and international students' experiences at a high-ranking research university in France. We analyse and compare the mobility, language practices and practices related to university life of these two populations interacting within a common higher education setting. Despite common needs of language skills for professional needs, our results demonstrate significant differences in their declared concerns and practices, suggesting that each population remains largely within their diverging "comfort zones". We find a lack of social interaction between host and international students, producing a two-way deficit, where many host students miss an opportunity to benefit from practicing foreign languages and discovering new socio-cultural perspectives, while many international students miss an opportunity for local social and institutional support, known to reduce stress. We conclude with suggestions for adapting university policies to remedy this deficiency.

“Lock Us in a Room Together”

“…The level of participation in social activities and events in university also differs by each student group. Hartwell and Ounoughi (2019) found significant differences in their study in which local students reported frequenting libraries and orientations more than international students did. In turn, international students reported attending multi-nationality events much more frequently as well as opting for student residence more than local students did.…”

“…This becomes especially timely as Canadian institutions of higher education increasingly commit to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (Tavares, 2021c). As Hartwell and Ounoughi (2019) have put it, the lack of (opportunities for) social interaction produces a two-way deficit through which both local and international students miss out on the chance to grow in many intrapersonal and interpersonal areas.…”

Inter-relating factors influencing the quality of stay of Chinese-speaking students in a French University

“…That is, In Dimension C, c1 (teaching equipment) is most likely to affect the others; it included both the tangible and intangible resources provided by the institution. As most of the researches on satisfaction surveys have shown, resources on campus plays an important role in the studying abroad decision process (Hartwell & Ounoughi, 2019;Perez-Encinas et al, 2020;Robertson et al, 2000;Yu & Wright, 2016). In other words, to improve the the quality of Chinese-speaking students in France, the first thing to consider should be updating the teaching equipment, which might have as cascading effect on other campus environment factors.…”

“…Compared with other international students, Chinese students are more used to a hierarchic relation between teachers and students, under the Confucianism, and the expectation towards the teachers are quite different from that in Western education; as a result, Chinese mobile students have a greater adaptation gap to fill (Turner, 2006 ; Wang & Lin, 2019 ). In a study of Hartwell and Ounoughi ( 2019 ), with a sample of 1900 international students in France, the authors suggested that students with teachers who encourage more participation in the classroom integrated better in the new environment. There are a number of studies indicating that teaching methods are influential to the quality of students studying abroad (Kember, 2000 ; Perez-Encinas et al, 2020 ).…”

“…To make Chinese-speaking students feel more welcome in France, it is important to understand the factors that affect their stays first. There has been a pool of researches exploring the overseas study experience of Chinese students (Heng, 2019;Meng et al, 2018), and/or their satisfaction during their stays (Merola et al, 2019;Perez-Encinas et al, 2020;Yu & Wright, 2016), yet most of the researches have focused on the English-speaking environment, and only very few on foreign students in France (Hartwell & Ounoughi, 2019), let alone Chinese students. To accurately evaluate the circumstances faced by Chinese-speaking students in France, we first sieve through literature to define the factors that influence their lives there the most.…”