Back to School! Acculturation and Relational Processes among Recent Immigrant Students at Campus Montreal

• In Event: 242 - Section on International Migration Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Education, Schooling, and Immigration

Abstract

The recruitment of foreign students by universities contributes to diversify and amplify broader migratory processes. Despite a great deal of research on the subject of foreign students, however, few studies have focused on permanent resident students (PRSs) as a specific category of migrants. Located between citizens and foreign students, PRSs indeed have their own specific needs and profiles. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data collected among 426 permanent resident students frequenting three affiliated academic institutions in the city of Montreal. Results show, among other things, that relational and institutional practices have a great impact on reducing or accentuating systemic and individual barriers faced by PRSs within academia as well as their adopted society. Our findings moreover identify two types of PRS. Those more oriented towards assimilation, who demonstrate a more positive perception of barriers, and those more aligned towards a separation from members of the majority, and Quebec society as a whole.

Authors

• Sebastien Arcand, Hautes Estudes Commerciales-Montreal

• Fasal Kanoute, University of Montreal

• Jamel Stambouli, Hautes Estudes Commerciales-Montreal