Critical Perspectives on International Student Experiences in U.S. Higher Education

• In Event: Transnational Teritary Education, Student Experiences, and Global Skills Formation

Proposal

Introduction

Since the early years of the Cold War, internationalization has been a central aim of higher education institutions in the U.S. specifically and in the global North more broadly (Rizvi, 2011; Altbach & Knight, 2007). Consequently, the recruitment of international students has steadily increased (Bamberger & Morris, 2023). Much of the existing scholarship on international students has tended to emphasize themes of adaptation and cultural exchange, identity formation, language learning, brain drain, and human capital development (Trice & Elliot, 1993; Robertson, 2006; Trice, 2007; Marginson, 2014). Fewer studies have critically located international student experiences in the US and other Anglophone countries within broader structures of securitization, militarism, racialization, discourses of U.S. exceptionalism, and xenophobic political rhetoric (Stein, 2017; Lee & Rice, 2007). More recently, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, a number of studies have taken a more critical approach to international student experiences, especially those of East Asian students (Hwang et. al, 2024). For example, with the shift to online learning during that period, a number of scholars challenged the term “international” as being more than crossing physical national borders (Bennett, Ichikawa, Lin, Pannirselvam, and Uerpairojkit, 2024 ).

This paper contributes to this critical line of inquiry by examining the experiences, relationships, and construction of community among graduate international students impacted by mobility regimes, U.S. foreign policy - both past and present - and stereotypical depictions of cultural and “civilizational” difference, among other techniques that construct difference. The paper focuses on exploring the experiential, political, affective, and social dimensions of international students' lives in the U.S. By critically engaging with graduate international students’ experiences within the U.S. higher education sphere, this paper highlights how higher education simultaneously reproduces and challenges global divisions, revealing tensions between universities’ rhetoric and students’ lived realities. This critical lens underscores the need to rethink higher education not merely as a site of knowledge production but as a contested space where peace, justice, and inclusion must be actively negotiated.

Such a study is necessary considering that international students enrich U.S. higher education institutions with diversity and global connections, as well as enhancing their educational quality, reputation, financial stability, and “global impact” (Cantwell, 2015). Yet, the continued recruitment of international students, particularly those from non-European backgrounds, also raises the need for more comprehensive and intersectional understandings of the transnational forms of racism and discrimination they encounter—seen most recently in anti-Asian hate rhetoric and attacks stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside xenophobic policies and practices targeting students from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region and other non-European backgrounds racialized as “threats” in U.S. political discourse. These perspectives are critical when considering how international students are commonly perceived as “passive outsiders” who struggle with academic and interpersonal proficiency, and are often imagined to be less engaged in local community collaborations or sociopolitical public life.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This paper is informed by critical race theory and transnational feminist theory. Conceptually, it departs from two dominant vantage points: first, refusing “intercultural competence” as the desired horizon of connection; and second, moving beyond the nation-state or country of origin as the primary mode of inquiry and analysis. Instead, we are interested in the experiential, political, affective, and social resonances that international students in the U.S. often share but are rarely recognized or given space to explore collectively.

Methodology

This study employs a sociocultural qualitative design, unfolding within the everyday settings in which participants are already active. Data collection includes semi-structured interviews with graduate international students, as well as observations of public spaces and participant social activities. Additional interactions may include group interviews or focus groups, and participant-generated video footage documenting spaces where they feel comfort and belonging as well as sites of discomfort or exclusion. Most importantly, as there is much research about international students, this research highlights the importance of research by international students (Mittelmeier, Lomer and Unkule, 2024). This research is a collaborative work done by international students with various backgrounds and nationalities. This design of a heterogeneous and diverse group of international participants and researchers is intentional, which challenges the Euro-centric homogeneous categories of international students based only on nationality or visa status (Bennett, Ichikawa, Lin, Pannirselvam and Uerpairojkit, 2024).

Findings (in progress)

This study is ongoing. Participant observations have been completed, and interviews are currently underway. While findings are still forthcoming, preliminary analysis suggests a critical set of insights into the ways graduate international students experience inclusion and exclusion within U.S. higher education institutions. The paper will present an empirically grounded, theoretically informed analysis of these experiences, emphasizing how students navigate new forms of community.

Authors

• Neamatallah Elsayed, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Roozbeh Shirazi, University of Minnesota

• Qianzi Cong, University of Minnesota

• Yilin Wei, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Nikoo Nikoonazari, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Sunga Kufeyani, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Vongrathayuth Hingphith, University of Minnesota

• Xun Yu, Univ. of Minnesota