Katherine Forestier 22 June 2013 Issue No:277
As universities recruit more international students, they need to work
out their media messaging about the benefits for local and national
communities, as well as their campuses, the “Worldviews 2013” conference
in Toronto heard.
Views differed as to whether universities should sell the economic benefits, or use the media to promote wider cultural and social advantages. Both could help or hinder the integration of international students.
Teboho Moja, clinical professor of higher education at New York University, said: “Media reporting of the economic benefits is over-emphasised.” The result was insufficient awareness of what international students could contribute.
This reflected attitudes within universities, which were not doing enough to promote integration both on campus and with their wider local communities, she told a session on “International Students and Campus Integration: Institutional strategies and media representations”.
In the United States, international student offices focused on practicalities such as visa issues, rather than intercultural learning, Moja said. Orientation programmes brought groups of international students together, but rarely involved domestic students.
“I would like to see programmes for everybody. Everybody needs to be a part of it,” she stressed, adding that faculty also needed orientation programmes for working in an internationalised institution.
She urged universities to make better use of the “cultural and social capital” that international students brought with them, such as promoting language exchange, rather than one-way English language development for those from overseas, and getting more domestic students to participate in study-abroad programmes.
“Too often integration is seen as an event, rather than a process for the whole time students are there,” she said.
Money, money, money?
Shaun Curtis, director of 'International Exeter' at Exeter University in the UK, said the economic argument was important for winning political as well as local community acceptance for the presence of large numbers of international students – particularly when cutting immigration was high on his country’s political agenda.
Research commissioned by Exeter had demonstrated that international students pumped £88 million (US$136 million) a year into the local economy, contributed 2%-3% to GDP and underpinned around 3,000 jobs, he said.
“Local media is not interested in the cultural and educational benefits. They are interested in jobs and investment.”
However, while this message was important, he warned of the dangers of international recruitment merely being portrayed as a cash cow, especially if reported back to the students themselves.
“We want them because we want to be a leading international university, with the best and brightest on campus,” he said.
“Integration strategies need to be conditioned by the local context, focused beyond students to the local community. We need to deliver messages to multiple audiences, and need media to help with that.”
His university tried to promote integration by diversifying its international recruitment beyond the “easy win” countries such as China, and capping numbers. Too many students from one country resulted in “autonomous populations” that did not mix.
Once students arrived, student unions and sport played key roles in integration. Campus design that helped bring people together in open spaces was also important.
Jane Ngobia, director of the human rights and equity office at the University of Guelph in Canada, said: “The media focuses on the mobility aspects of international education – the numbers – rather than the human aspects.”
On campus, those working in student affairs needed better training to support students from different cultures, religions and ways of life.
Maria Mathai, director of MM Advisory Services in India, said she could not find any media coverage at the national level in India on the issue of integrating home and overseas students. “They talk about India as a source country, not about all the international students there,” she said.
Moja said that, in South Africa, the focus was on recruiting international students to support the development of the whole region, not on income. Five per cent of places were reserved for students from the Southern African Development Community, and they were charged the same fees as local students.
Views differed as to whether universities should sell the economic benefits, or use the media to promote wider cultural and social advantages. Both could help or hinder the integration of international students.
Teboho Moja, clinical professor of higher education at New York University, said: “Media reporting of the economic benefits is over-emphasised.” The result was insufficient awareness of what international students could contribute.
This reflected attitudes within universities, which were not doing enough to promote integration both on campus and with their wider local communities, she told a session on “International Students and Campus Integration: Institutional strategies and media representations”.
In the United States, international student offices focused on practicalities such as visa issues, rather than intercultural learning, Moja said. Orientation programmes brought groups of international students together, but rarely involved domestic students.
“I would like to see programmes for everybody. Everybody needs to be a part of it,” she stressed, adding that faculty also needed orientation programmes for working in an internationalised institution.
She urged universities to make better use of the “cultural and social capital” that international students brought with them, such as promoting language exchange, rather than one-way English language development for those from overseas, and getting more domestic students to participate in study-abroad programmes.
“Too often integration is seen as an event, rather than a process for the whole time students are there,” she said.
Money, money, money?
Shaun Curtis, director of 'International Exeter' at Exeter University in the UK, said the economic argument was important for winning political as well as local community acceptance for the presence of large numbers of international students – particularly when cutting immigration was high on his country’s political agenda.
Research commissioned by Exeter had demonstrated that international students pumped £88 million (US$136 million) a year into the local economy, contributed 2%-3% to GDP and underpinned around 3,000 jobs, he said.
“Local media is not interested in the cultural and educational benefits. They are interested in jobs and investment.”
However, while this message was important, he warned of the dangers of international recruitment merely being portrayed as a cash cow, especially if reported back to the students themselves.
“We want them because we want to be a leading international university, with the best and brightest on campus,” he said.
“Integration strategies need to be conditioned by the local context, focused beyond students to the local community. We need to deliver messages to multiple audiences, and need media to help with that.”
His university tried to promote integration by diversifying its international recruitment beyond the “easy win” countries such as China, and capping numbers. Too many students from one country resulted in “autonomous populations” that did not mix.
Once students arrived, student unions and sport played key roles in integration. Campus design that helped bring people together in open spaces was also important.
Jane Ngobia, director of the human rights and equity office at the University of Guelph in Canada, said: “The media focuses on the mobility aspects of international education – the numbers – rather than the human aspects.”
On campus, those working in student affairs needed better training to support students from different cultures, religions and ways of life.
Maria Mathai, director of MM Advisory Services in India, said she could not find any media coverage at the national level in India on the issue of integrating home and overseas students. “They talk about India as a source country, not about all the international students there,” she said.
Moja said that, in South Africa, the focus was on recruiting international students to support the development of the whole region, not on income. Five per cent of places were reserved for students from the Southern African Development Community, and they were charged the same fees as local students.
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