Domestic and international student interactions: Cosmopolitan aspirations and intentional practices

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Creating Space: Student Perspectives, Inclusivity, and Access in International Education

Proposal

Introduction

Higher education in the United States espouses ideals of upward mobility, self-discovery, and global citizenship by providing opportunities for students to experience new places, peoples, and ideas as well as form meaningful bonds among peers. This is especially true at Midwestern public universities that have experienced a surge in international undergraduate enrollment (IIE, 2020). Many higher education institutions (HEIs) view international students as pivotal for promoting campus diversity and efforts toward preparing global citizens since international students bring academic, cultural, social, and economic benefits to the learning environment for domestic students (Chen, 2007). Nevertheless, domestic students do not necessarily take advantage of the rich opportunities that international students bring to campus; conversely, international students are often described as isolated, segregated, stereotyped, or discriminated (Gareis, 2012; Lee & Rice, 2007; Rose-Redwood & Rose-Redwood, 2013; Ruble & Zhang, 2013; Trice, 2004). Recognizing that meaningful relationships are crucial to the deep learning and perspective-changing that is possible with cross-group interactions (Amit & Barber, 2015), in this study, we interrogate how domestic students anticipate and experience interactions with international peers across college settings.

Literature and Research Questions

Previous research has shown that domestic and international students often co-exist without interacting (Glass & Westmont, 2014; Ngobia, 2011; Yao, 2018). The increased number of international students at HEIs has not automatically translated into increased cross-cultural learning between domestic and international students. With the invisible separation between international and domestic students, the considerable potential for intercultural learning has not yet been fully realized (Leask, 2006; Peacock & Harrison, 2009; Robson, et al. 2018).

Existing literature about internationalization focuses on the perspectives and experiences of international students rather than domestic students. Given that domestic students’ experiences and perspectives of cross-cultural learning are broadly absent from prior literature (Harrison & Peacock, 2009) and that domestic students are “most resistant to having an international experience at the home campus, yet they have potentially the most to gain,” (Leask, 2006, p.14), it is crucial to understand their interactions with international students and the underlying assumptions and forces that prevent them from interacting with and taking advantage of having international students on campus.

Given these challenges, our study poses the following research questions:

(How) do domestic students form expectations about their future international peers?

(How) do domestic students articulate their desire for or value of interactions with international peers?

What is the nature of these encounters across college contexts, including in the classroom, in living spaces, and in formal (organized) and informal (spontaneous) social events?

Conceptual Framing and Relevant Literature

It has been widely touted that twenty-first-century college education provides opportunities to develop cosmopolitan sensibilities. Inspired by Boni and Calabuig (2017), we understand cosmopolitanism to mean a “communicative process that concerns the multiple ways the local and the national is redefined as a result of interaction with the global" (p. 26). In college, these sensibilities are developed through encountering ideas and people that challenge learners to (re)shape worldviews. Our learning thus far has helped us distinguish between aspiring for and practicing cosmopolitanism. Aligned with Amit and Barber (2015), we agree that “diversity […] does not produce cosmopolitanism per se. Rather it enables encounters that can elicit a range of possible responses, including […] empathy and reflexivity” (p. 546).

Methods and Data

This study draws from a longitudinal mixed-methods case study in which 680 freshmen were surveyed in 2018 about their pre-college experiences with diverse others, their expectations for college, their initial college experiences and interactions with international students, and self-report questions regarding global citizenship and diversity. In 2019, 290 initial survey-takers completed a follow-up survey.

According to the initial survey, domestic students regarded interacting with international students as important for intrinsic and instrumental reasons (Authors, 2021). In the follow-up survey, nearly 80% of students reported interactions with international students in class at least once or twice a week. Two-thirds of the students interacted with international students in formal settings outside of class; however, in social/informal settings, nearly 50% of students never interacted with international students.

This lack of interaction between domestic and international students in social/informal settings drove us to conduct follow-up interviews with 17 survey-takers. These semi-structured interviews (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) utilized a conversational approach (van Manen, 1997) and explored participants' pre-college and college interactions with diverse others, particularly those from outside the U.S. The interviewers engaged separately in open coding before convening as a team to engage in integrated and thematic coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).

Emerging Findings

The interviewees espoused their aspirations for cosmopolitan sensibilities and anticipated that college would afford them opportunities to engage with others to develop these sensibilities. They expressed desires for interacting with international students and believed they have the capacity for such relationships. Their accounts hint at varying experiences when it comes to practicing cosmopolitanism through forming meaningful relationships. Some shared that their interactions came in cursory encounters in class or the cafeteria, while others shared the joys and challenges of forming personal relationships or sharing living spaces with international peers. In our presentation, we explore how interviewees imagined their cosmopolitan college experiences and anticipated interacting with international peers. We then explore the ways interviewees reported encounters with their international peers across college settings.

Significance

Our findings suggest that even among students who espouse cosmopolitan sensibilities and desires for interacting with international students, their interactions across settings remain limited. Meaningful interactions occurred, however, only when students were intentional in seeking out such opportunities. Most students were critical of the institution and its efforts to prepare students for or facilitate substantive interactions. Obstacles noted by interviewees include separate international and domestic student orientations and a tendency for student organizations to be segregated.

As HEIs endeavor to make their campuses more accessible and to facilitate meaningful learning for and among all students, they must ensure that students arrive at campus ready and receptive to interact across differences. This includes understanding how students develop expectations and espouse their values for interactions as well as providing useful opportunities for practicing authentic cosmopolitanism.

Authors

• Adam Grimm, Michigan State University

• Rebekah Gordon, Michigan State University

• Grace Shu Gerloff, Michigan State University