We need to get to know our international students better

UK higher education is increasingly global, with 679,970 students categorised as international in 2021-22, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa). Internationalisation is a key strategic priority: the University of Edinburgh strives to develop international partnerships and celebrates its multicultural community.

The international campus has many benefits: diversity can build tolerance and respect. A multilingual campus can enhance cognitive abilities, mutual understanding, social cohesion and also employability. 

The problem with the ‘international student’ label

From an admissions perspective, the label “international student” reflects a differentiated fee status. A large proportion of universities’ income is estimated to come from international student fees, and the higher cost for international students in Scotland cross-subsidises “home” students.

In a climate that creates a disconnect between internationalisation as an enriching academic, social and cultural objective and as a neoliberal income generator, can we create a culture that truly values diversity?

Diversity can manifest in several ways. Perhaps students’ first language differs from the language of instruction, and there is also diversity in perceptions of politeness, pedagogical beliefs, values and academic expectations, all of which, along with other markers of identity, such as age, gender and social class paint a more complex picture of the student than nationality alone. Below are some suggestions to harness diversity and create inclusive international classroom spaces.

Begin with self-awareness: reflect on your implicit biases (and take the Harvard test, which analyses implicit attitudes and beliefs). Monitoring your classroom behaviour, eg, where your attention is directed and taking time for post-class reflection, can help correct spontaneous reactions.

Tasks such as mindful breathing and hearing/listening can foster self-awareness and boost well-being and collective empathy, as well as restore focus. Lead students in a five-minute mindful pause. To do this, invite students to sit with their eyes closed and guide them to become aware of their posture and sensations, breath, surrounding sounds, and where their attention is drawn. Diving into subconscious beliefs can be destabilising, but disrupting stereotypes can help us move away from othering international students.

Think of students as individuals: move away from reductive perspectives to get to know your international students. Pair students up and try the following icebreakers:

• Ask students to share their names, programmes of study and a fact about themselves
• The name stories game, in which each student shares the story behind their names, which could include its meaning, origin, family links and associations.

Get to know students’ beliefs and values: use case studies to present a scenario for students to interpret. Question the origins of students’ responses, whether information gaps exist or whether students make any assumptions. Use the discussion to steer students towards respectful communication.

Demonstrate and encourage active listening: reflecting a sincere commitment to understanding a speaker’s ideas, active listening involves withholding judgement, checking your understanding by paraphrasing and making eye contact, but note that non-verbal responses such as eye contact are not necessarily universal signs of respect.

• Resource collection: Create welcoming classrooms for international students
• How to support international students’ smooth transition to a new country
• Five useful measures for welcoming students to international classrooms

Let students participate in a range of ways: multimodal options for participation and knowledge demonstration include digital polls (eg, Wooclap), group work or an image/mind map/graphic/poster task. Use a platform such as Microsoft Teams to post materials, collect task responses and allow students to participate using chat functions.

Work with students as partners in their learning: to do this, take and act on feedback regularly, work with students to redesign (parts of) courses or revise pedagogical approaches and address a negatively biased perspective towards silence. (Re)consider it as an indication of thinking, engagement, reflection, critical response and/or respect when combined with multimodal participation methods. Allowing students time for silence also helps to rebalance power dynamics between quieter and more talkative students.

Consider language: translanguaging, which involves encouraging multilingual learners to draw on all available linguistic resources for expression, could be an effective approach. For example, in group work, students can choose a common language for discussion and produce collaborative translations; or in multilingual groups, students can share multilingual resources. This approach promotes positive attitudes towards multilingualism.

Include international voices: create globally diverse reading lists to include multiple perspectives, contextualise issues, encourage critical reflection and question power structures.

An inclusive, diverse classroom can be a stimulus for a socially just international campus for all students.

Meg Maclean is a lecturer and COL director of the International Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh.

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