Learning and growing in a ‘foreign’ context: intercultural experiences of international students

Gu, Qing; Schweisfurth, Michele; Day, Christopher

doi:10.1080/03057920903115983

Cited by 304 publications

(262 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…As I have reported from the findings of previous studies (Gu and Schweisfurth 2006;Gu 2009;Gu et al 2010), it is the agency of individual students in navigating the challenges of study abroad that is of the greatest importance in the personal development they experienced.…”

Section: Efficacious and Confident Professionalsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Our previous research has demonstrated the importance of receiving universities typically as a particular type of community, which is intentionally, self-consciously and de facto international in its outlook and composition (Schweisfurth and Gu 2009;Gu, Schweisfurth and Day 2010): a kind of transnational 'bubble' within a wider local and national context (Gu and Schweisfurth 2015: 4).…”

Section: Schweisfurth Argue Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This two-year, mixed methods study (funded by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)) (2006)(2007)(2008) was designed to investigate the experiences of first-year international students during their undergraduate study at four U.K. universities (Gu, Schweisfurth and Day 2010;Schweisfurth and Gu 2009). …”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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An emotional journey of identity change and transformation: The impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees

2015

Learning and Teaching

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A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact eprints@nottingham.ac.uk An emotional journey of identity change and transformationThe impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees Qing Gu AbstractThis article discusses the nature of Chinese students' transnational experiences and its impact on their identities within and beyond national and cultural boundaries. The discussion is located in the theoretical framework of transnationalism and explores in detail the ways in which students adapt, change and develop, both in the host country of their study and also on their return to work in their home countries. Empirical evidence in the article is drawn from the findings of three studies, led by the author, which have investigated the pedagogical, sociocultural and emotional challenges that Chinese students have encountered when studying at British universities, and the perceived impact of their overseas studies on their lives and careers in their home countries. The research findings suggest that there are distinctive patterns of challenges, struggles, adjustments, change and achievement over time -all of which are embedded in the processes of socialisation, enculturation and professionalisation.Such experiences are both transitional and transformational and, most profoundly, they necessitate identity change at and across different layers of boundaries. At the heart of this identity change is a constant, emotional search for a reflexive sense of self as an embodied individual, a member of a professional group and a member of an organisation.

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Section: Efficacious and Confident Professionalsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Schweisfurth Argue Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An emotional journey of identity change and transformation: The impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees

2015

Learning and Teaching

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“…However, academic acculturation is indeed a multi--factorial, multi--dimensional and an altogether complex construct. The literature on student sojourners' experiences consistently points to adaptation and adjustment as part and parcel of their experience (Gu, Schweisfurth, and Day 2010;Ridley 2004;Zhou et al 2008;Ward, Bochner, and Furnham 2001) regardless of the personal strengths and qualities that students possess. The group of successful young academics in this study was no exception when it came to the puzzlement and challenges they had to contend with during their PhD study in Britain.…”

Section: Social Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although, study sojourns are relatively short, their transformative effects, arguably last a lifetime (Jones 2013). Growth and transformation beyond academic--related experiences need not come as a surprise since a core element of studying abroad involves students being enveloped by the very fabric characterising the host culture (Gu, Schweisfurth, and Day 2010;Marambe, Vermunt, and Boshuizen 2012).…”

Section: What Makes International Education a Complex Journey?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the amusement, puzzlement and challenges: an enquiry into international students’ academic acculturation

Elliot

Reid

Baumfield

2015

Studies in Higher Education

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This paper investigates the phenomenological experiences of academic acculturation of selected non--British post--doctoral academics with a retrospective focus on their experiences as PhD students. The participants came from different disciplines and countries of origin to pursue several years of postgraduate research in different British higher education institutions. The typical, yet distinct, experiences of an exceptional group of early--career academics offer invaluable insight into the joys, excitement, puzzlement and challenges that international students often encounter as they embark on studying and living in a foreign country such as the UK. Using Urie Bronfenbrenner's bio--ecological theory of human development, our paper presents a theoretical perspective that can help elucidate and offer a greater understanding of what appear to be complex incidences in international students' experiences. These incidences can, arguably, be crucial to the success or failure of students' sojourns.

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Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

Schweisfurth

2015

British Educational Res J

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127

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International students constitute a substantial and growing mobile population globally. However, as yet, the experiences of returnees and the ways in which their overseas studies impact on their identity and professional and personal lives over time have been under-researched areas. In this article we employ concepts from theories of transnationalism as a framework for the analysis of the experiences of Chinese graduate returnees. The empirical basis for the article is a 20-month, twostage, mixed-method study of 652 Chinese students who returned home for work on completion of their degrees in UK universities over the last 25+ years. Evidence suggests that their journeys of studying abroad and returning home are dynamic and interconnected transnational experiences. Such experiences are avenues for diverse social networks that reinforce a complex cosmopolitan identity and awareness. They are, also, avenues for transnational(ised) new competences, skills and worldviews, which are increasingly valued by the students themselves upon return home. Irrespective of differences in their demographics and backgrounds, studying and living abroad was perceived by most returnees in our research as a profound identity transformating experience. These new connections, competences and identities enabled them to view and live life with a new sense of self at 'home' and, as a result, function in ways that continued to distinguish themselves from those around them over time. The findings have implications for higher education institutions and agencies that are concerned with enhancing the quality of university internationalisation. They also have implications for a broadened empirical and conceptual understanding of transnationalism.

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Learning and growing in a ‘foreign’ context: intercultural experiences of international students

Cited by 304 publications

References 19 publications

An emotional journey of identity change and transformation: The impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees

An emotional journey of identity change and transformation: The impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees

Beyond the amusement, puzzlement and challenges: an enquiry into international students’ academic acculturation

Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

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