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CC BY-NC-SA V4.0, Open Access
Dissertation
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EMPLOYMENT AS A CONDUIT FOR CAMPUS INTERNATIONALIZATION
Washington State University
Doctor of Education (EdD), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000003163
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/121771
Abstract
A small rural community college implemented an initiative to establish an international program that recruited international students in order to diversity enrollment and to expand the opportunities for cultural competencies though campus internationalization. At first, the international program struggled with international student retention and with ensuring opportunities for cultural exchange between international students and the campus community. This action research study investigated the extent to which the employment program created opportunities for contact and thus improvement of cultural and support for campus internalization. Intergroup Contact Theory, an anti-racist concept from social psychology, was used as a framework to guide an extended “look” and “think” phase of the action research cycle. Questions were collaboratively developed by a group of community members and 14 interviews of college staff and faculty were conducted and analyzed. The findings discuss the perceptions shared by the participants as to what interactions were occurring as a result of the program, what was being learned, and their ideas about institutional change. The study found that the program showed promise in providing opportunities for interactions between international students and the campus community. The drivers of these interactions included characteristics of the worksites where international students were placed for their job assignments, including as the nature of the work being done and the efforts of the supervisors. The participants in the study attributed increases in cultural competency in their worksites and amongst students as a result of the program.
Increasing the support for campus internationalization and cross-cultural learning at rural community colleges has the potential to better situate rural community colleges to serve international students. These campuses have many benefits to offer international students including individualized attention, lower costs, and robust academic support tailored for students who are unfamiliar with how to navigate college. Moreover, rural community colleges that are situated in areas where there is otherwise not much opportunity for cross-cultural interaction can benefit from bringing together domestic and international students in order to expand their opportunities to develop cross-cultural competency and a global outlook.
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Details
- Title
- INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EMPLOYMENT AS A CONDUIT FOR CAMPUS INTERNATIONALIZATION
- Creators
- Marie C Boisvert
- Contributors
- Shannon Calderone (Advisor)Sharon Kruse (Committee Member)Glenys Hill (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Education (EdD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 128
- Identifiers
- 99900652004801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation