The Rising Anti-Asian Racism in North America and International Student Mobility: An Analysis of Student Voices from East Asia

• In Event: Critical Reflections, Social Justice, and Awareness in Study Abroad and International Student Experiences

Proposal

Anti-Asian racism has been exacerbated since the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting Asian international students in North America. Against this background, media coverage in East Asia on anti-Asian racism in North America has ramped up (e.g. China Daily, 2021; The Korea Times, 2021). While emerging research focuses on racism faced by Asian international students currently in North America (Chen, 2021; Zhang et al., 2020), little is known on how exacerbated anti-Asian racism and increasing media coverage affect perceptions of potential international students in East Asia. Through a survey of university students, this study aims at understanding how potential international students in China and South Korea, top countries of origin for international students in Western countries such as Canada and the United States, perceive the anti-Asian racism in North America and how it affects their study abroad plans. The findings of this study will inform institutional policies on international student recruitment and support amidst rising global competition for international students.

Methods and Data

We draw on a survey and interviews of Chinese and South Korean students currently studying in China or studying abroad to understand their perception of anti-Asian racism and impression of top destination countries for international students, such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We conduct descriptive and regression analyses of students’ responses to understand if they have plans to study abroad, their attitudes to anti-Asian racism in Western countries, and to what extent have their plans been affected by anti-Asian racism. We subsequently plan to conduct a maximum of 12 semi-structured qualitative interviews from the survey takers who expressed interest in a follow-up interview.

Conceptual Framework

This study draws on the push-pull model of international student mobility to understand how international students’ plan may be affected by anti-Asian racism, which is largely connected to the social environment of the destination country (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002). The push-pull model is designed to explain the forces influencing migration: push factors from the country of origin and pull factors from the host country such as the political, environmental, and economic context (Lee, 1966). When applied to student mobility, the push-pull model of international student choice states the availability of local programs, the prestige of foreign degrees, immigration intention, reputation of foreign institutions, the perceptions of the foreign country of study, cost issues, and social links affect students’ choice to study abroad (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002). We expect that these factors influence the decision-making of potential international students from China and South Korea. Particularly, we are interested in the impact of students’ perception of the destination country in the context of rising anti-Asian racism.



Preliminary Findings

We have received 160 completed responses with more responses pending. Among the 160 students, 77% of them are currently studying in China and 23% of them are international students in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among the students who are currently in China, 31% of them are considering studying abroad in the near future.

According to the results, most students are aware that anti-Asian racism is happening in English-speaking countries. However, anti-Asian racism in some countries seem to have received more attention. For example, 95% of the students say that they are aware of anti-Asian racism in the United States. This figure is 81% for Australia, 71% for the United Kingdom, and 69% for Canada. Despite the variation, it is safe to say that Chinese students, either currently studying abroad or still in their home country, have knowledge of Anti-Asian racism in top destination countries.

How do potential international students feel about the rampant anti-Asian racism? Most students (75% to 80%) reported that they are bothered by these incidents (the percentage varies by country), at least at the emotional level, whereas 14% to 24% of the students reported that they were not affected by these incidents. Consequently, most (72%-80%) of the students reported that they have more negative view of the destination countries due to the rising anti-Asian racism.

Does a more negative view of the top destination countries affect students’ decision about which country to study? In our analysis, we also find early evidence suggesting that there might be a change in Chinese students’ preferred destination countries. In our survey, we asked students’ top three preferred destination countries to study abroad. Results show that 29% of the students choose United States, 25% choose the UK, 11% choose Canada, and only 5% choose Australia. However, 12% choose Hong Kong, China, and 6% choose Japan. Moreover, students also mention Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Korea, among their preferred destination countries to study abroad. This diversity of destination countries provides some preliminary evidence suggests that Chinese students are considering much broader options of countries, not just the Anglophone countries.

Discussion and Conclusion

Previous research suggests that country image is important when students choose destination countries, since they may have very limited information about what the destination country looks like, especially to live for a long period of time (Ghazarian, 2016). In addition, the push-pull model of international student mobility also suggests that students’ perception of play an important role in their study abroad destination choice (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002). Therefore, we argue that potential international students’ awareness of and negative impression of anti-Asian racism in destination countries may affect the overall trend international student mobility in terms of major destination countries. Countries with rising reports of anti-Asian racism may be negatively impacted with student enrollment in the future.

More rigorous analysis, such as regression models and interviews, is needed to see to what extent students’ choice of destination is related to their perception of anti-Asian racism. This will be our next step of the analysis. Our preliminary findings suggest that the rising anti-Asian racism in Anglophone countries is affecting the international higher education field and higher education institutions in Anglophone countries should better start thinking about how to make changes to address this negative impact.

Authors

• You Zhang, OISE, University of Toronto

• Phoebe Kang, OISE (University of Toronto)