Learning to be civically engaged? Experiences of Chinese international students in Canadian universities

• In Event: International Student Experience

Proposal

Over 1 million international students chose to pursue their education in Canada in 2024, forming a significant community for Canadian higher education and society (IRCC, 2024a, 2024b). Current Canadian government policy predominately views these international students as an economic and soft power source that fulfills national development demands (GAC, 2019; Hutcheson, 2024). However, this approach neglects international students’ abilities to contribute to and build civil society in the Canadian context (Li, 2016). Although the political tensions between Canada and China extends to higher education, over 100,000 Chinese students, as the second-largest international student group, currently study in Canada (CBIE, 2023; Greenfield, 2024; Ling & Zimonjic, 2024). Previous studies have shown that Chinese international students are motivated to contribute to Canadian society through civic activities, such as volunteering and voting after being granted Canadian citizenship (Guo-Brennan et al., 2020; Li, 2016, 2020). As Chinese international students are one of the largest student groups both studying in Canada and applying for post-study permanent residency (CBIE, 2016; Yu, 2020), there is a need to understand how their post-secondary education experiences support them to interact and transition into broader Canadian society as part of their long-term settlement plans.

HE is intended to balance society's economic demands and social development, and universities have the ability to develop different educational programs to support international students to become civically engaged (Munck, 2010; Jon & Fry, 2021). Universities also assist the transition of students to professional and civic life (Kreber, 2016). International students who become civically engaged during their studies usually maintain this commitment to pursuing positive changes for their local communities (home/host country) and global contexts, including advocacy for minority groups (Jon & Fry, 2021; Wang et al., 2024). Although universities in Canada aim to initiate positive social change through education and community partnerships, formal civic learning programs in Canadian universities still have inadequate critical and international perspectives (Guo-Brennan et al., 2020; Taylor et al., 2015; Universities Canada, 2021). Therefore, international students face practical challenges and barriers for civic engagement learning, including lack of accessibility based on their legal status, limited opportunities in HE contexts, and adjusting to sociocultural differences (Guo-Brennan et al., 2020).

This research aims to fill the gaps in understanding civic engagement learning in international education and the demand for Canadian higher education by Chinese international students. To do so, the study investigated Chinese international students’ civic engagement and identity development experiences in Canadian universities. The following three research questions guided the inquiry process:
1. What are Chinese international students' perceptions and attitudes towards civic engagement?
2. How does studying in a Canadian university impact civic engagement and civic identity development among Chinese international students?
3. What factors outside formal post-secondary education and campus life impact Chinese international students' civic engagement experiences and civic identity development?

This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews to reach ten Chinese international students from two major universities with high numbers of Chinese international students in Quebec, Canada. I employed inductive and deductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022); the Civic-Minded Graduate (CMG) model (Steinberg et al., 2011) and Social Identity theory (Hogg, 2016; Tajfel & Turner, 1986) to guide the analysis. The CMG model demonstrates how students' civic identity is shaped by the intersections between their identity and educational and civic experiences, representing them as civically aware and engaged individuals in real-life practices (Steinberg et al., 2011). It emphasizes the importance of higher education in students' civic identity/engagement development, which is helpful for this study in investigating the implications of both formal and informal learning opportunities in Canadian universities. Social identity theory discusses individuals' behaviours as being influenced by their social identity, thus the values and traditions of their social groups (Hogg, 2016; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Social identity theory guided this research in seeking the nuances and intersectionalities between Chinese international students’ personal identities and civic identity.

In the preliminary analysis stage, I have identified three major themes from Chinese international students’ civic engagement experiences. First, international mobility from China to Canada bolsters politically-oriented offline (in person) civic engagement. For example, Canadian society and universities create platforms for (Chinese) international students engage in protests and demonstrations related to local and global affairs, which may be prohibited in the Chinese context. Second, some students choose to be civically engaged in Canada based on their personal concerns to other communities and needs to express their political opinions, such as showing solidarity with the university's teaching assistant community and impacted communities in Gaza. This approach is different from the collectivist approach that is more prevalent in China. Third, Chinese international students understand civic engagement to combine both political and community aspects. However, their experiences showed them that the university both depoliticizes civic engagement on campus but also selectively encourages political activities that could benefit the institution.

In this conference presentation, I will focus on the third theme in order to illustrate the landscape of universities’ civic engagement education and the contradictions experienced by students as they navigate their own and the university’s perspectives of civic development. I will provide some practical recommendations for universities in Canada and beyond in supporting (Chinese) international students' civic engagement/identity development, including formal curriculum design/implementation, policymaking directions and strategies of community-building for university leadership. In the post-pandemic era, international student mobility rebounded in Canadian higher education (IRCC, 2024a), and current research still has gaps in addressing students’ civic development while they study abroad. This study will provide new insights for higher education practitioners to create a more open and safer environment for international students’ civic development by learning about the experiences of the Chinese international student community.

Author

• Yvonne Zhang, McGill University