Understanding international student connectedness

‘If you are feeling alone and you are not feeling safe, it impacts everything’: a mixed-methods exploration of international students’ accommodation, subjective wellbeing and mental health help-seeking

“…Overall, the study found that the strongest predictor of international students’ wellbeing was living in their preferred accommodation setting, as well as regularly helping others, being physically active and having regular social connection. Like others [ 10 , 11 ], the study’s qualitative data also highlight the negative impact of loneliness, isolation and lack of belonging on international students’ wellbeing, and the great need for culturally appropriate opportunities for connection intentionally designed to enhance belonging and relational wellbeing [ 15 , 16 , 18 , 22 ]. Spirituality and religion were a source of comfort for international students during times of distress.…”

“…Peer support is recognised as a valuable alternative to immediate or extended family for students [ 11 , 13 ], which in addition to provision of social connection helps students to organically gain an understanding of coping strategies and more successfully transition into university life [ 14 , 15 ]. Connectedness became more challenging for international students who remained in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic when they had to self-isolate, study online instead of in classrooms, and were often stranded in their host country without access to welfare support [ 16 ].…”

“…For international students, social connections and networks are often formed through a variety of common factors, such as their university course, workplace, home/accommodation location, culture, religion, recreational pursuits and personal interests/hobbies [ 17 ]. In addition to connections forming organically, research highlight the importance of these social connections being intentionally designed, facilitated and encouraged by tertiary education stakeholders (e.g., universities, residential colleges/student accommodation, student membership bodies, and community/social groups) to enhance belonging, overall wellbeing and relational wellbeing, and in particular to enable culturally appropriate connections for international students who are more at-risk of isolation and loneliness [ 15 , 16 , 18 – 21 ].…”

A peer community approach to research education: A case study of a student-initiated online community

“…Since Australia is a popular study abroad destination with a large number of international students (Hasnain & Hajek, 2022), statistics related to overseas students are extracted from the available Higher Education student data (2022) to understand the composition of the HDR students in Australia. Although there was a growing number of overseas HDR students and overseas commencing HDR students before 2019, the majority of HDR students and commencing HDR students in Australia from the years 2003 to 2020 have been domestic students.…”