Outsiders within: isolation of international faculty in an American university

Abstract

As the internationalisation of higher education has become an important element in university global competitiveness, universities are engaged in initiatives to internationalise their curricula. Among the strategies employed to internationalise the campuses is the recruitment of highly skilled international faculty. The recruitment of such faculty is fraught with challenges of integrating and socialising the faculty into the academic ethos and social fabric of the university and community. This study presents the findings of a qualitative case study conducted on international faculty in a Southwestern university engaged in an ambitious programme of transformation into a global campus. Using embedded intergroup theory and boundary heightening as theoretical constructs, the study identifies the isolation of the faculty through excessive intrinsic careerism, collegial and community isolation, minimal professional development opportunities, and exclusionary politics of teaching and scholarship that occasionally translated into stereotypical comments, physical violence in class and offering courses that were unpopular. The study recommends enhancing opportunities for international faculty interactions, strengthening the integration practices evident in successful units, and providing staff development opportunities for both chairs and international faculty in order to boost professional and social integration of the faculty.

A Qualitative Exploration of Connectedness During COVID-19: Faculty Perceptions Toward Communication, Collaboration, and a Sense of Community While Teleworking

“…Given the volatile nature of COVID-19 and its implications for all public and private institutions, including universities and colleges, it is highly likely that issues relating to connectedness while teleworking will remain relevant for the foreseeable future. As noted in previous research, faculty satisfaction has a strong influence on hiring and retaining high quality educators (Betts, 2009;Dolan, 2011;Golden, 2016;Lee, 2001;Munene, 2014;Ng, 2006). As discussed in previous research, and now as noted in this study following COVID-19, there are many challenges to feeling connected which seemed to impact faculty's overall job satisfaction.…”

“…Faculty frequently discussed missing their colleagues and the social interactions that occurred when working at the university. They described telework as isolating and challenging, which was a challenge shared by remote faculty who participated in previous research related to inclusion and remote faculty (Golden, 2016;Munene, 2014).…”

Analyzing Biographies of Foreign-born Academics in Slovakia: Why Highly Skilled Employees Decide to Choose a Peripheral Country

“…According to OECD, highly-skilled migrants include highly skilled specialists, independent executives, and senior managers, specialized technicians or tradespersons, investors, business persons, "keyworkers" and sub-contract workers (Iredale 2001: 8). In general terms, all those individuals can be divided into business-oriented people (see Piekut 2013) and academics (see Skachkova 2007;Alberts 2008;Kreber -Hounsel 2014;Munene 2014). Academic studies reported that most of the problems common to both groups include limited interactions with colleagues and other local people, the language barrier, limited research funding, and cultural differences.…”

Job resources and demands for expatriate academics

“…In a different study by Garson (2005), the author, an American expatriate, also described how she was informally excluded from a central network of colleagues at an Egyptian university. Similarly, in an American university, Munene (2014) identified problems related to isolation of the foreign faculty. We explore whether teacher-student relations could be one source of social support for expatriate academics, mitigating problems related to exclusion and isolation and leading to increased job satisfaction.…”

“…An important reason for academics to travel between countries for work is the global competition for talent (Isakovic and Whitman, 2013;Silvanto and Ryan, 2014). Propelled by the desire to attain world-class status, many universities have embarked on ambitious and expensive programs of research and infrastructural advancement as well as curriculum development to meet international requirements (Munene, 2014;Trembath, 2016).…”