What Fosters School Connectedness? The Roles of Classroom Interactions and Parental Support.

Although research has identified the impact of school connectedness on a variety of outcomes for adolescents, much less work has focused on identifying its precursors. This study examined the relative influences of classroom interactions and parental support on elements of school connectedness among a sample of 4838 students (Mage = 15.84, SD = 0.29; 49.1% female) in the United States from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 data. The results showed that three domains of classroom interactions (i.e., classroom management, instructional support, and emotional support) and parental support played unique roles in predicting school connectedness (i.e., teacher support and school belonging). Specifically, classroom management positively predicted both teacher support and school belonging; instructional support, especially directed instruction, positively predicted teacher support; emotional support was unrelated to teacher support and school belonging. Parental support positively predicted school belonging, but not teacher support. Overall, these findings highlight the roles of both teachers and parents in providing developmentally appropriate support to facilitate school connectedness.

International and Domestic College Students: A Comparison of Campus Sexual Assault Victimization.

Campus sexual assault (CSA) research predominately focuses on the victimization experiences of domestic college students. Therefore, there is little knowledge on, and understanding of, international student's CSA victimization experiences. The present study analyzed results from a campus climate survey conducted in 2018 at a midsized Midwestern university. Twenty-three percent of international women and 18% of international men reported being a CSA victim. A series of analyses then compared CSA victimizations in relation to international victims vs. international nonvictims and international victims vs. domestic victims. Results showed international victims vs. international nonvictims were more likely to be a sexual minority and be a member of a sorority or fraternity. Compared with domestic women, international women were more likely to report being non-victims. Compared with domestic men, international men were more likely to report being CSA victims. Results are discussed in relation to research on CSA and propose future directions of study.

Differentiated experiences of financial precarity and lived precariousness among international students in Australia.

Empirical research on international student migrants has sometimes homogenised this group, framing it as predominantly made up of privileged members of the global middle-class. This has led to calls to acknowledge and address the precarity faced by international students in their respective host countries more comprehensively. This study aims to explore how levels of financial precarity vary among international students in Australia, and how this in turn contributes to varying levels of precariousness in the personal spheres of students' lives. In doing so, we centre and refine the concept of precarity for use in studies of internationally mobile students, arguing for its use as a 'relational nexus', bridging financial precarity and broader lived experiences. Drawing on a large-scale survey and semi-structured interviews with 48 students, we emphasise the linkages between financial precarity and precariousness as a socio-ontological experience, explored through the examples of time poverty, physical and mental wellbeing, and relationships.

Moving towards multipolarity: shifts in the core-periphery structure of international student mobility and world rankings (2000-2019).

Over the past 20 years, international student mobility has experienced a three-fold increase, as planned and emerging education hubs have attracted increasing numbers of students. The appeal of alternative destinations is strengthened by their cultural, linguistic, and geographic proximity, as well as a growing number of internationally ranked universities. This article quantifies shifts in international student mobility and world university rankings over a consequential 20-year period (1999/2000-2018/2019) at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It examines shifts in the number of county-to-country connections (density), relative country importance in the network (centrality), and network structure (multipolarity). The results indicate the overall network density steadily increased year-to-year, with a three-fold increase in the number of country-to-country connections, as influence was more widely and evenly distributed among a larger number of core countries within the network. As the number of universities in planned and emerging destinations listed in the rankings doubled, the network structure indicated a movement toward multipolarity, where a more diverse set of countries exerted greater relative influence in the overall network. The results suggest that while core-periphery dynamics in international student mobility persist, they also have begun to shift, as a larger and more diverse subset of planned and emerging educational hubs in Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East exert increasing influence in the overall network.

Language and communication in international students' adaptation: a bibliometric and content analysis review.

This article systematically reviews the literature (313 articles) on language and communication in international students' cross-cultural adaptation in institutions of higher education for 1994-2021. We used bibliometric analysis to identify the most impactful journals and articles, and the intellectual structure of the field. We used content analysis to synthesize the results within each research stream and suggest future research directions. We established two major research streams: second-language proficiency and interactions in the host country. We found inconclusive results about the role of communication with co-nationals in students' adaptation, which contradicts the major adaptation theories. New contextualized research and the use of other theories could help explain the contradictory results and develop the existing theories. Our review suggests the need to theoretically refine the interrelationships between the interactional variables and different adaptation domains. Moreover, to create a better fit between the empirical data and the adaptation models, research should test the mediating effects of second-language proficiency and the willingness to communicate with locals. Finally, research should focus on students in non-Anglophone countries and explore the effects of remote communication in online learning on students' adaptation. We document the intellectual structure of the research on the role of language and communication in international students' adaptation and suggest a future research agenda.

Crisscrossing scapes in the global flow of elite mainland Chinese students.

This paper applies Appadurai's notion of scapes in globalisation to study international student mobility. Thirty mainland Chinese students were interviewed; the majority of whom studied at prestigious institutions in the West before enrolling in their current PhD programmes at a research-intensive university in Hong Kong (HK) in the immediate aftermath of HK's large-scale social protests and amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. We seek to understand why these students relocated to HK to further their studies given these turbulent circumstances and how their mainlander identity and sojourns in the West influence their perceptions of HK's social movements from the perspectives of ethnoscape and ideoscape, respectively. Our findings reveal that HK represented the 'best' compromise for our participants, mitigating their nostalgia for home (i.e. mainland China) whilst offering a superior education to the Chinese mainland. Most participants perceived HK as a nationalistic ideoscape, wherein HK people's pursuit of autonomy is subordinated to the putative Chinese national interests. Moreover, ethnoscape and ideoscape dynamics were found to crisscross other scapes. Generous scholarships (i.e. financescape) provided additional incentives driving student relocations. The persistent consumption of Chinese social media (techno-mediascape) was found to have resulted in worldview conformity between our participants and the Chinese state.

A longitudinal examination of WeChat usage intensity, behavioral engagement, and cross-cultural adjustment among international students in China.

WeChat is a highly popular social media in China and many other Asian countries, but little is known about its effectiveness in facilitating international students' academic and social functioning. Hence, the present study aimed to examine causal or reciprocal relationships among WeChat usage intensity, behavioral engagement in academic learning (BE-academic) and in local social activities (BE-social), and academic and social adjustment. To this end, we employed a three-wave longitudinal design among international students in China with data collected at three times (i.e., Time 1 data collected in December of 2020, Time 2 data collected in March of 2021, and Time 3 data collected in June of 2021). Results based on the cross-lagged panel analyses indicated that in academic domains, WeChat usage intensity positively predicted longitudinal changes in BE-academic and academic adjustment positively predicted longitudinal changes in WeChat usage intensity across Time 1 and Time 3. In social domains, WeChat usage intensity positively predicted longitudinal changes in BE-social and social adjustment, and BE-social positively predicted longitudinal changes in social adjustment from Time 1 to Time 2. Additionally, the reverse effects of social adjustment on WeChat usage intensity were revealed across Time 1 and Time 3.

Uncertain futures: climate change and international student mobility in Europe.

The rapid growth of international student mobility has attracted much research on the many benefits it offers to students, higher education institutions, and societies in general. However, studies on the costs and potential tribulations caused by mobility are comparatively rare, despite increasing evidence of such costs inherent in the marketization of higher education. Furthermore, the few existing studies are predominantly framed in terms of consumerism and the commodification of education, but they give less attention to mobility in the context of wider social issues. The climate crisis is foremost among such social impacts, with the extensive air travel inherent in global mobility patterns causing significant damage, combined with curricula, pedagogies, and institutional strategy that are either ambivalent or contradictory on the climate crisis. This paper examines international student mobility in European higher education to better understand how the environmental costs of higher education can be conceptualized in policy and practice. It contrasts policies and practices that promote international student mobility in Europe-in which mobility has aspects of what are commonly referred to as "public goods"-with initiatives that promote mobility to Europe, which illustrate a historic and ongoing entanglement between European colonialism, higher education, and climate change. It concludes with reflections on possibilities for greater sustainability in international student mobility in Europe.

Towards a health promoting university: descriptive findings on health, wellbeing and academic performance amongst university students in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Universities are increasingly recognised as institutions where health and wellbeing can be promoted to maximise academic outcomes, career transitions, and lifelong positive health behaviours. There is concern about the mental health of university students and other factors which affect academic outcomes particularly for subgroups such as international students. There are few cohort studies of the breadth of issues that can impact on mental health and academic outcomes for both local and international students. We conducted a baseline prevalence survey of students at a large Australian university covering health, academic, and social determinants of wellbeing. The purpose was to inform the university's new student health and wellbeing framework with a view to follow-up to determine predictors of mental ill-health and academic outcomes in the subsequent year. In this paper we present the baseline prevalence data and report on selected mental health and health care access issues for local and international students. METHODS: The entire university population as of April 2019 of over 56,375 students aged 18 or above were invited to complete the online survey. Questions explored eight domains: demographic characteristics, general health and wellbeing, mental health, risk taking behaviours, psychosocial stressors, learning and academic factors, social and cultural environment, and awareness of and access to health and wellbeing services. Records of academic results were also accessed and matched with survey data for a large subset of students providing consent. RESULTS: Fourteen thousand eight hundred eighty (26.4%) students commenced our survey and were representative of the entire student population on demographic characteristics. Three quarters were aged between 18 to 25 years and one third were international students. Eighty-five percent consented to access of their academic records. Similar proportions of local and international students experienced symptoms of a depression or anxiety disorder, however international students were less aware of and less likely to access available health services both inside and external to the university. We also reported on the prevalence of: general lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, amount of daily sleep); risk-taking behaviours (including alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; unprotected sexual activity); psychosocial stressors (financial, intimate partner violence, discrimination, academic stressors, acculturative stress); subjects failed; resilience; social supports; social media use; and health services accessed online. CONCLUSIONS: This rigorous and comprehensive examination of the health status of local and international students in an Australian university student population establishes the prevalence of mental health issues and other psychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing, along with academic performance. This study will inform a university-wide student wellbeing framework to guide health and wellbeing promotion and is a baseline for a 12-month follow-up of the cohort in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of changing nonimmigrant visa policies on international students' psychological adjustment and well-being in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the number of international students in the United States had been gradually increasing. However, the total numbers have begun to decrease since 2019-2020 school year due to the Trump administration's policy and COVID-19. Still, little is known about how international students' psychological adjustment and well-being have been affected by changing nonimmigrant visa policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.  METHODS: We conducted a total of 34 online semi-structured in-depth interviews with international students from 18 countries of origin studying in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. More than 60% of the participants (21 out of 34) were aged 21 to 25. Among our 34 participants, gender and 18 were male and 16 were female, and 19 were undergraduate students and 15 were master's students. The majority of the participants were first-generation college students (22/34, 64.71%). Verbatim transcription was done for all interviews. NVivo was used for both deductive and inductive approaches to the qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Overall, the recent political climate negatively impacted participants' psychology of adjustment and well-being. July 6, 2020 Policy Directive for international students caused severe uncertainty about whether they can continue studying in the United States. There were many resources or services needed to overcome this period, such as extended mental and emotional support from the counseling services as well as financial and informational support from the international student office and university. Although international students had the benefit of the university's food assistance program, they were not eligible to receive any external support outside of the university and financial aid at the local and federal levels. Whether maintaining F-1 visa status was one of their major concerns. Due to COVID-19, job opportunities were limited, which made international students difficult to obtain Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and secure a job in the United States within the 90-day unemployment limit of Optical Practical Training (OPT). H-1B visa and permanent residency were other challenges to go through, but participants saw positive perspectives from the Biden administration. CONCLUSIONS: Uncertain policy changes due to COVID-19 and presidential transitions impacted international students' psychological well-being and adjustment. International students are important populations in the United States who have supported jobs that are high in demand and economically contributed to the United States. It is expected that future policies at various levels support international students' life and improve their health equity and mental health.

The impact of COVID-19 on reducing carbon emissions: From the angle of international student mobility.

Global carbon emissions have been rapidly increasing in recent years, negatively influencing the global climate. Thereby, it is urgent to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. During the COVID-19 pandemic, strict quarantine plans have led to a sharp decline in the number of international student flights, which will, in turn, decrease aviation carbon emissions. This study predicts the carbon emission reduction caused by the decrease in international student mobility during the COVID-19. The result shows that the carbon emission was about 1326 Gg, a staggering value equivalent to two-thirds of the carbon emissions of the UK's agriculture sector in a year. Furthermore, this study analyzes the implications of current mitigation policies and makes recommendations for future strategies.

Effectiveness of case scenario-based teaching to transition international Master of Public Health students specialising in health promotion from memorization to critical thinking.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Critical thinking is essential to health promotion to overcome increasingly complex health issues. International students from Middle East and Asia are however disadvantaged when required to demonstrate critical thinking mainly because of their previous training in memorisation. This study addresses this need by evaluating the effect of case scenario-based teaching on transition from memorisation to critical thinking among international students in an Australia university. METHODS: This was a pre and post intervention study and data were collected from a convenience sample of 79 international Master of Public Health students specialising in health promotion in 2019 at the University of Wollongong. RESULTS: Most of the participants were female (73.4%) and aged 25 years or older (64.6%), predominantly from India (40.5%), Nepal (31.6%) and Saudi Arabia (11.4%). A paired t-test analysis showed that the intervention - case scenario-based teaching - significantly improved the mean post-intervention critical thinking skills (P < 0.001). Case studies improved critical thinking among international students, irrespective of demographic attributes. Multiple regression analyses indicated that critical thinking predicted 78.6 of the total marks, after controlling for demographic attributes. In terms of assessment marks, improved multiple solutions skills yielded better marks for tutorial participations; while improved problem identification skills improved marks for report assessments and exams. Improved communication skills led to better marks for essay assessments. CONCLUSIONS: Case studies improved critical thinking and was a reliable predictor of student performance among the participants. SO WHAT?: This study makes a strong case for case scenario-based teaching to improve critical thinking among international students. However, given the limitations of this study, including the small, non-representative sample, further testing is required.

Reconceptualising international academic mobility in the global knowledge system: towards a new research agenda.

The cross-border movement of people in higher education has been attracting scholarly attention for decades, but the definition of 'international academic mobility' bears ambiguities. This article reviews the literature on international academic mobility published in the journal Higher Education and beyond. By bridging the literature on international academic mobility from higher education studies and other disciplines, this article proposes to redefine international academic mobility, which highlights the integration of both international student mobility and international faculty mobility. Furthermore, this article outlines a new conceptual framework and research agenda, on the role of international academic mobility in the national, regional, and global knowledge systems. The framework highlights the relationship between international academic mobility and worldwide knowledge acquisition, production, transfer, circulation, networks, and the geopolitics of science. The article also proposes further methodologies for future research on international academic mobility.

The dual processes of health impairment and motivation in international student adjustment in China: insights from a demands-resources model.

China has become one of the leading study abroad destinations worldwide. Recent research also indicates that international students encounter diverse life challenges and mental health issues in China. Therefore, scholars have shown increasing interest in their adjustment in Chinese social and academic settings. Seeking theoretical guidance from the Job Demands-Resources Model with mediation and moderation assumptions, our study aimed to test the dual processes (i.e., the health impairment process and the motivational process) leading to academic, sociocultural, and psychological adjustment, among international students sojourning in China. Using a convenience sampling method, our study recruited 1,001 participants (535 males and 466 females; M age = 22.73; SD = 1.62) who completed an online survey including scales of perceived cultural distance (contextual demands), social support from local members (contextual resources), coping self-efficacy (personal resources), acculturative stress, intercultural engagement, as well as three types of cross-cultural adjustment (academic, sociocultural, and psychological adjustment). Results based on the structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated that perceived cultural distance had indirect relationships with the three types of adjustment through the mediator of acculturative stress. Social support from locals had indirect relationships with the three types of adjustment through the mediators of acculturative stress and intercultural engagement. Coping self-efficacy had indirect relationships with academic and sociocultural adjustment through the mediator of intercultural engagement. Additionally, social support from locals was revealed as a moderator that buffered the relationship between perceived cultural distance and acculturative stress. These mediated and moderated relationships not only confirmed the dual processes underlying international student adjustment, but also added new knowledge of how demands and resources can interplay to predict the dual processes.

International Student Recruitment During the Pandemic: The Unique Perspective of Recruiters from Small to Medium-Sized Higher Education Institutions.

Higher education can be considered an industry comprised of mobile students attending institutions worldwide (Findlay et al. in Int Migr 55(3):139-155, 2017). The global pandemic, COVID-19, has significantly impacted the mobility of these students. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have attracted students using international student recruiters, various marketing materials, websites, and educational agents (de Wit in Int High Educ 59:13-14, 2015). When COVID-19 began to unfold around the globe the disease impacted many sectors of the economy, but the impact of disease on the higher education industry is not well documented. The purpose of this study is to explore how higher education institutional student recruitment staff responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the perspectives of international student recruitment staff in eight small to medium-sized institutions in Canada to understand the impact of the pandemic on their practice and to generate insights for policymakers to consider when planning the future of international student recruitment (ISR). The study found that these recruiters perceived their size to be a disadvantage and that the pandemic highlighted the inequities within higher education. Furthermore, recruiters feared the competitive position of small to medium-sized institutions is potentially deteriorating with implications on policy, resources, and internal relationships within HEIs.

Explaining Government Policy Inaction on International Student Housing in Australia: The Perspectives of Stakeholders.

Housing is a major concern for many international students. This is especially so in those countries where students are mostly dependent on the private market for their accommodation. Australia is one such country, and is one of the world's major destinations for international students. This article analyses governmental failure to address problems relating to international student housing affordability and conditions. Using theory on 'policy inaction' to frame the analysis, we draw on 20 interviews with policy stakeholders to explain the Australian government's reliance on: (1) market-based housing provision for international students, and (2) a longstanding policy preference not to provide support. Interviewees were widely critical of the lack of action to address international student housing problems and understood inaction in relation, rather than in opposition, to the dominance of market-based action in housing and higher education. However, analysis of stakeholder perspectives also illuminates how policy-making action benefiting some emerges as inaction for others left behind or overlooked by the status quo. The interview data points to the need for government to overhaul its policy framework, and in doing so, to collaborate with higher education providers in revising the market-based regulatory approach. The main implications for theory and policy are discussed.

Reimagining Higher Education in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Chinese Students' Desires for Overseas Learning and Implications for University Governance.

Neither world leaders nor leading medical professionals would have anticipated the adverse impacts of the global health crisis resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on multifaceted aspects of contemporary society. Set against the broader political economy context, this Special Issue focuses on examining the impacts of the present global health crisis on higher education development. Addressing the major objective of the Special Issue, this article chooses the theme of reimagining higher education in the post-COVID-19 era, critically examining Chinese students' desires and motivations for overseas learning. Based upon a few waves of surveys conducted since 2020, after the outbreak of the pandemic, this article assesses the impacts of the unprecedented global health crisis on Chinese students' future overseas study plans. Having experienced various forms of disruption during the COVID-19 period, this article also critically reimagines higher education development in the post-COVID-19 era.

Who benefits most from studying abroad? A conceptual and empirical overview.

This editorial to the special issue on heterogeneous effects of studying abroad starts with a review of studies on the determinants and individual-level effects of studying abroad. On that basis, it illustrates the necessity to place more emphasis on effect heterogeneity in research on international student mobility. It then develops a typology of heterogeneous effects of studying abroad, which shall function as an agenda for future research in the field. Thereafter, the editorial introduces the contributions to the special issue. It concludes by summarising major findings and directions for future research.

Crises in international education, and government responses: a comparative analysis of racial discrimination and violence towards international students.

Crises affect international students' overseas experiences, but crisis theory is rarely considered in international education studies. This article provides a comparative study of two countries, using a 'most similar cases' research design, to analyse host-nation government responses to crisis situations. The two countries are Australia and New Zealand. The crisis in each case relates to racial discrimination and violence against international students. The article finds that Australia and New Zealand each had a 'long-shadow crisis'. Yet, Australia's governmental response was more systematic and comprehensive, mainly because of the formation of a pro-action 'advocacy coalition' which was formed in the context of a federal political system. The article discusses key implications for international education studies, highlighting that governmental structures matter in crisis response, and that crisis theory is important to interpreting policy challenges, especially in the era of COVID-19.

International students in professional placements: supervision strategies for positive learning experiences.

BACKGROUND: Professional placements are critical elements of speech-language pathology qualifying programmes that can be complex learning environments for international students. Students are supported by placement educators who facilitate their developing skills and competencies for professional practice in these placements. However, strategies that facilitate international students' learning in placements have not been identified. AIMS: To identify strategies that are reported by speech-language pathology international students and placement educators to facilitate positive learning experiences and competency development in practice placements. METHODS & PROCEDURES: This study used an exploratory research design to gather data from four focus groups with international students and five focus groups with placement educators. Thematic analysis was used to identify strategies, and these were interpreted using two theories of learning. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Four themes were identified that described international students' placement experiences and learning. For each theme, strategies were identified that placement educators can practically and responsively implement with international students to enable positive placement learning experiences. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: These strategies support international students to manage acculturative adjustments for the cultural and learning requirements of placements that may facilitate their successful participation, and provide structure to reduce their cognitive load. However, strategies to develop communication skills for practice were less feasible. Through fostering positive placement experiences, these strategies may also facilitate opportunities for educators and international students to share intercultural skills and knowledge that may be transferable to practice.