International Student Involvement: Leading Away From Home

• In Event: Who's in Charge? Youth Dissent and Leadership

Short Description

Culture influences how leadership is executed and experienced. International student leaders develop perceptions about leadership based on cultural practices and leadership practices in their home countries. This presentation will discuss the experience of 17 international graduate student leaders to explore the experience of international student leaders in the U.S.

Detailed Abstract

The rate of enrollment for international students has been on the rise since the 1950s (Walker, 2000). Thousands of students are drawn to higher education institutions in the United States because of their perceived quality and prestige (Bourke, 2000). The existing literature on international students has primarily focused on challenges students face when transiting to the U.S. education system. Studies have shown there is a positive relationship between student involvement on campus and overall college success (Abe, Talbot, & Geelhoed, 1998; Toyokawa & Toyokawa, 2002; Yoh & Pedersen, 2006). Although there are clear findings that suggest a positive relationship between involvement and student development, studies have not explored international student leaders’ experiences with leadership involvement (Astin, 1993; Moore, Lovell, McGann, & Wyrick, 1998; Tinto 1993). The current study is designed to address this gap. Given the support in the literature for how leadership is contextualized based on culture and sub-cultures (Hofstede, 2001), the findings of this study provide insights on how students from different countries experience leadership in the United States.

Research Question: How do international graduate student leaders perceive their involvement experience in the United States?

Methodology: The target population of the study is defined as international graduate students who are or have served in leadership roles across the university or in professional/community organizations. According to Astin (1993), organizational affiliation and commitment are indicators for student involvement. Participants had to have been currently enrolled in classes, completed their undergraduate studies outside of the United States, and hold a formal leadership title to qualify for the study. Purposive sampling and snowball sampling were used to recruit participants. A total of 17 participants, from 11 different countries, were recruited for in-depth, face-to-face interviews. The phenomenological reduction method was used to analyze data (Moustakas 1994).

Findings: Four themes emerged from the data as it pertains to international graduate student leaders’ involvement experience in the United States: (1) contextually challenging; (2) essential; (3) task and service oriented, and; (4) rewarding.

Description of International Student Leaders’ Involvement Experience

Contextually challenging: Contextual differences made involvement more difficult in the United States for international student leaders. One participant said, “Here, it’s more difficult for me. It’s mostly a language barrier, but also there is a cultural barrier… I don’t know what to talk about. I don’t know whether or not to bring a topic. I don’t know if they’re interested or even if they know what I’m talking about” (P11, Iran). Essential: Getting involved was about self-care and mitigating depression. International student leaders have an innate need to be involved, a love for leadership, and a great sense of responsibility for their peers. Reflecting on their first year as an international graduate student, one participant said, “It was really, really hard for me… I was afraid to get…depressed… and second year [decided to] find a solution for my life here” (P9, Brazil). Another participant said, “It was responsibility you know. I think it’s probably something like loyalty to a organization” (P12, China). Task and service oriented: Participants largely described leadership as a collaborative management process – that is an act of service. Leadership is about “understanding your team, working with that team… not [about] what you want,” and “walking with, giving space to, and being the voice that invites…inviting people to be [their] greater selves” (P2, India; P5, South Africa). Leaders [ensure] everything is fine… [and that] the final product is presentable, involves everyone in the decision making,” and “[have] the ability… to work in a team, to manage and participate in a team with a group of people” (P4, India; P16, Brazil; P11, Iran). Rewarding: International student leaders shared several benefits for involvement. Participants have been able to build their social capital, learn critical leadership skills, and use the experience as an opportunity for personal growth. Thinking about what they have learned through their leadership involvement, one participant said, “I come from a worldview, a perspective, where community is the focus, and here the individual is the focus. So, you have a privilege position to recognize the ways in which individualism harms the community, but you also can learn so much about what it means to actually put yourself at the center. So, there’s healing there that can happen. Here you are and you as an individual never really nattered, because the community is the focus, and here’s a space that says you do. You rise to the occasion to heal those parts of you that yearned to be at the center” (P5, South Africa).

Participant

• Sky Georges, University of Florida