5b Student Development

8/3/2019 5b Student Development

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/5b-student-development 1/7

Persidangan Pembangunan Pelajar Peringkat Kebangsaan 2008Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 22-23 Oktober 2008

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE HIGHEREDUCATION – A LITERATURE REVIEW

Suhaila Sanip 1, Nor Azila Noh 2

1,2 Islamic Science University of [email protected]

Abstract

Internationalization has been the talk of education sectors in recent years. Both the public and privateeducation sectors are busy planning strategies for internationalization programs. Althoughinternationalization effort had started since 1980s in other countries, research on internationalization aremainly conducted to study the definition of internationalization and the impact of internationalization onthe institution and the education program and impact of internationalization on the academic staffs. Studentdevelopment had often been missed out in the area of study on internationalization although students arethe ones who will be affected most in internationalization process.

A literature review on the topic of internationalization of student development was conducted to studythe concept of internationalization of student development, what aspect of student development are mostaffected in the process of internationalization and what are the findings of previous studies oninternationalization of student development. Online literature search was conducted using Google Scholar,ProQuest, OVID and SAGE Premier 2008.

Findings of literature review were categorized into the following topics of definition of internationalization, implementation of internationalization effort, impact of internationalization tostudents, reasons for internationalization of education, student’s development outcomes for internationaleducation, needs of international students, support given, duration of exposure to international education,

ways of internationalization of education and cultural awareness of students.In conclusions, any educational institution in the tertiary level both in the public and private sector

cannot run away from internationalization. Although academic and faculty development are important inthe process of internationalization, students’ development should be given its needed attention. Studentsdeserve to choose institutions that support their needs the most. More research on student developmentshould be undertaken so we can tap their potential early and nurture them to become a holistic world classprofessional.

Keywords: internationalization; student development; higher education



1. Introduction

Internationalization has been the talk of education sectors in Malaysia in recent years.Both the public and private education sectors arebusy planning strategies for internationalizationprograms although the main objective forinternationalization in these institutions variesgreatly. The private education sector started theirventure in internationalization as early as in 1986while the public education sector started tofollow suit in 1994 (Mohamad et. al, 2008). Themain activities of internationalization of theseinstitutions according to Mohamad et. al wereadvice on policies relating to the internationaldimension of higher education in the privatesector and the provision of training forinternationalization in the public sector.

What is the implication of internationalization of education to developingand developed countries? According to Rouhani& Kishun (2004), with students from developingcountries going abroad to study, they seek betteremployment in developed countries upongraduation. This leads to brain drain indeveloping countries and it occurs acrossspectrum of profession. On the contrary,internationalization of education brings a lot of benefits to developed countries. Internationalstudents contribute significantly to revenue flows(Smith & Rae, 2006) and increases pool of highly skilled potential employee with

international exposure.Internationalization of education should not

be seen as only an efflux of our studentsoverseas, it should also be seen as havinginternational recognition of our local universityand having an influx of top achieving foreignstudents. Students tend to go for further studiesat a country which they think is better than theirown in case of full pee-paying students whilethose who are sponsored by the government haveno option but to go countries as offered by theirscholarship.

Is there any quality control measures taken

to ensure that despite the revenue thatinternational students bring to a university,quality of education provided to the students is of more importance to the institution? According toSmith & Rae (2006), some universities in NewZealand are force to manage a large number of international students. Although they realizedinternational students contributes significantly touniversity revenue, diversify the campus

environment and enrich the learning experienceof the local students, they were trying to reduceinternational students intake taking into accountdiversification and risk management, resourcemanagement, impacts on domestic studentexperiences, issues relating to quality,dominance of one particular country in the bulk of international students, institutional capacity,accommodation, the nature of the educationexperience for both international and domesticstudents, and other infrastructural, social, andeducational capacity issues (Smith & Rae, 2006,page 34).

The effort to optimize available resources tothe number of international students were alsoseen as effort to reduce pressure on staffs andteaching resources, ensuring teachers wereproperly qualified to teach international studentsand most importantly, to maintain high-qualityeducational experiences for domestic studentsand to ensure that those experiences were notcompromised through internationalization of classes.

Although internationalization effort hadstarted since twenty years ago, research onstudent development had often been missed outin the area of study although students are theones who will be affected most ininternationalization process. Researches oninternationalization of education are mainlyconducted to study the working definition of internationalization, the impact of

internationalization on the institution and theeducation program and impact of internationalization on the academic staffs. Inthis literature review, it is hope that previousstudies on impact of internalization of educationto student development will guide the directionfor future research in this area.

2. Research Methodology

The purpose of conducting the literaturereview was to search findings of previous studies

on impact on student development in theinternationalization of higher education. If thereis, my interest would be to find out what aspectof student development is paid much attention byresearcher in this area. The conceptualframework of finding relevant literaturesrevolves around findings answers based on thediagram below.



An online literature review on the topic of internationalization of student development wasconducted using Google Scholar, ProQuest,OVID and SAGE Premier 2008. Keywords usedwere internationalization, internationalisationstudent development and international students.Only articles relevant to issues of studentdevelopment were selected.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 Result

Definition of Internationalization

Researchers in international education oftenhad different definition to the meaning of internationalization. However, the workingdefinition proposed by Jane Knight in 2004 hadbeen adopted by many educational researchersand had been proposed by Mohamad et. al(2008) to be adopted in Malaysia too. Accordingto Knight, “Internationalization at the

national/sector/institutional levels is defined asthe process of integrating an international,intercultural or global dimension into the

purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondaryeducation.” (Knight, 2004, page 11). A standardworking definition on internationalization isnecessary to have so that further research can becarried out with ease and findings of such studiescan be applied in a more global context.

Implementation of internationalization effort

Besides having different meaning todifferent people, internationalization also is seenas a different concept to different field of studies.Schoorinan (1999) found out that diverseconceptualization of internationalization amongadministrators, faculty members and studentsyielded incompatible approach toimplementation of internationalization.

Internationalization and activities associated

with it may be applicable to only certaindisciplines and certain level of study. InSchoorinan’s study, he found out too that theDepartment of Business is more supportive of internationalization activities compared toDepartment of Science. He also concluded thatinternationalization was deemed important at theundergraduate and master’s levels, wherestudents went on to corporate careers, but not atthe doctoral level, where graduates pursuedacademic careers (page 35).

Impact of internationalization to students

Internationalization had impact on both thelocal and the international students. The localmay benefit from the challenged posed byinternational students positively in term of academic achievement as international studentsare well-prepared in class and are willing to work hard (Schoorinan, 1999). A faculty respondentfrom Schoorinan’s study also believed that wheninternational and local students work together in

Internationalization of student developmentDefinition?

Students goingabroad

Foreignstudents comingto a country

Why going

Support given

Needs

CulturalAwareness

Duration

Why coming

Support given

Needs

Duration

CulturalAwareness

Quality control measures

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework



solving problem, the result is betterunderstanding of the problem, higher qualitywork, because they applied different approachesdue to their different background (Schoorinan,1999, page 30). However, negatively, thespending power of international students maycause jealousy to the local students (Smith &Rae, 2006). This is especially so in secondaryschools where most international students camefrom a well to do family.

Given the global nature of work environment at the moment, university graduatescan expect some exposure to internationalexposure in their career or be expected tomanage the business in a foreign country.Exposure to international students during theirundergraduate years may prepare them toworking with those who come from differentracial, national and ethnic background(Hanassab, 2006). She also quoted that studentwho learns how to work effectively in these newand diverse situations will be at an advantage.

Hanassab & Tidwell (2002) measured thechange experience by international studentsstudying in Los Angeles. International studentsreported an increase in their awareness of different philosophies, cultures and ways of life,increase in their skills of understanding Englishand pursuing ideas and information and changein understanding of their abilities, interests andpersonality. Surprisingly, the least changereported by the students was in their skills relatedto getting along with other international students.

Reasons for internationalization of education

Students who went abroad to study indeveloped countries do so to seek betteremployment opportunities upon graduation. Of students who are sponsored by the government,they go to countries selected by their sponsor forthe purpose of knowledge acquisition.

Students who participated in internationalexchange program, short study trip or industrialattachment do so as they see themselves ashaving more advantage in terms of securing a job

with international company (Daly & Barker,2005).

Student’s development outcomes forinternational education

Stone (2006) highlighted some possibleindicators for internationalizing students’learning experience. These indicators are verycomprehensive and institution interested in

internationalizing the learning experience of theirstudents should take these indicators as guidance.

Needs of international students

International students assume many roles inthe host country (Hanassab, 2006). Therefore, inorder to fulfill all these roles, international have alot of needs. Hanassab & Tidwell (2002)assessed the needs of international studentscoming to Los Angeles to study.

The followings are results of reported needsbased on their study:

• The African and Asian students had thehighest overall needs.

• Overall, the international students fromall regions who participated in thisstudy reported knowledge of immigration regulations, visarequirements career and academicneeds.

• The female students had greaterdifficulty than did their malecounterparts.

• Asian students have the highest needs incommunication category andpsychological needs.

• African students expressed the highestneed regarding cultural needs andmanaging perceived discrimination andstereotypes.

• Middle Eastern students reported thehighest need for the personal needscategory.

• Undergraduate international studentshad higher needs than the graduateinternational students.

• Students majoring in the science fieldshad the highest needs.

• International students engaged inprofessional study had the highest needsrelated to knowledge of immigrationregulations and visa requirements.

• International students who have been inthe United States longer reported fewercultural difficulties for adjustment todifferent cultures.

• Lower grade point average (GPA)sreported higher needs compared withthose having higher GPAs.



Support given

Call for strong support from student affairdivision had been well documented in theliterature (Hanassab & Tidwell 2002). Differentstudents’ background, cultural mix and languagebarrier all pose challenges to the academician,student affair division and the internationalstudents in higher education institutes. As thisliterature review is mainly concern with studentdevelopment, the challenges faced byacademician will not be discussed here.

Referring again to the findings of Hanassab& Tidwell 2002 study, it can be concluded thatthe people who will provide service to theinternational students must have interculturalcompetence and be well versed in handling thedelicate problems involving race, ethnic, religionand cultural issues.

Creating a support group for the students i.e.seniors with similar nationality may helpinternational students adjust better to the newenvironment and in handling personal problems(Pedersen, 1991 as cited in Hanassab & Tidwell2002, page 316). Counselors providingpsychological support and health professionalsproviding health service should also be remindedof physical manifestation of stress in thesestudents.

The association between lower GPAs withhigher needs in international students also callsfor specific support programs designed bydifferent offices in student affairs division.

Duration of exposure to international education

In Daly & Barker study in (2005), theyfound out of Australians and New Zealanderswho participate in international exchangeprograms, the duration of the programs differ anthe average length of time spent studying inanother country is one semester which equates toapproximately 4 months.

Duration of exposure to internationaleducation should therefore be importantconsiderations in trying to meeting

internationalization objectives as programs of less than 3 months duration have the leastsignificant changes in relation to developinginternational skills and global awareness(Koester, 1985 as cited in Daly & Barker 2005).

Ways of internationalization of education

Most of the literatures in this area discussedusual ways of internationalization of education

i.e. through face to face contact (study tour,exchange programs, industrial training etc). Theother way of internationalizing education isthrough use of communication technologies. Thishas been practiced by some universities. In theUniversity of Sydney for example, the Masters of Medical Education can be taken by internationalstudents through fully online mode. This methodshould be considered especially for postgraduatecourses as it can save the students a lot of money. The student does not have to leave his orher job and does not have to travel to a new placeforeign to them.

Communication technologies can beeffectively in internationalization of educationfor the local students too. Teleconferencing,email and WebCT can be used as effectivemeans to collaborate with other internationalhigher education providers to internationalizeeducation. The use of ICT in internationaleducation is supported by Leask (2004), whoconcluded that “ICTs can be used effectively toassist students in developing internationalperspectives, interacting with people from othercultures, and engaging actively in interculturallearning.” (page 350).

Cultural awareness of students

Intercultural competence is a recognizedstudent outcome of internationalization(Deardoff, 2004). One of the learning outcomesof international education should be in producing

graduates who are multiculturally competent andcan successfully function in any pluralistic ormultiethnic society ( Hanassab & Tidwell, 2002).

However, recent events in Malaysiainvolving international students warrant thatcultural competence be a pre-requisite beforearriving at host country. In Malaysia,international students from certain countries areseen as rude to the local people. This should nothappen if they had known the culture of the allethnics in Malaysia before arriving here. WhileDeardoff (2004) identified the interculturalcompetence element and proposed ways to assess

it, unfortunately, no study had been conducted toassess student’s cultural awareness of their hostcountry before going abroad to further theirstudy.

3.2 Discussion

Internationalization is becoming the drivingfactor for change in higher education institutes inthe public and private sector. A lot of things



could and should be done to help studentsdevelop their potential in internationalization of education. It is well documented thatinternationalization of education has bothpositive and negative impacts to local andinternational students (Daly & Barker, 2005;Schoorinan, 1999; Guest et al., 2006). Localstudents should be guided on how to takeadvantage of international students in theirclassrooms to maximize their learning activities.The international students on the other hand,should be given enough support so that they canadapt faster in the new surrounding andcontributed positively in the classroomsacademic activities.

Although students at different level of education seek international exposure toeducation for different reasons, their needsshould be supported individually. AlthoughHanassab & Tidwell (2002) study reported thatundergraduate international students have higherneeds Edwards (2007) believed that internationalexperience should be fostered as early aspossible for maximum impact.

Duration and level of exposure tointernational education is also an importantfactor in determining successful outcomes of international education. Therefore, future carefulplanning of internationalization effort shouldtake into consideration the students’ level of education, duration of international program andoutcomes to be achieved by these students.

The student affairs division should realize

that students from different countries differ intheir needs although they came from the sameregion. As international students may rely ontheir fellow countrymen for social and moralsupport for adaptation to the new environment,senior international students can be used bystudent affairs division to help the newinternational students.

Cultural awareness should be a pre-requisitecompetence of any students before participatingin any international education initiatives or forthe purpose of studying abroad. This not onlyhelp them to adjust faster to the new

surrounding, but it may also help them dealbetter with prejudice and discrimination.

4. Conclusion

Any educational institution in the tertiarylevel both in the public and private sector cannotrun away from internationalization. Althoughacademic and faculty development are important

in the process of internationalization, students’development should be given its neededattention.

Students deserve to choose institutions thatsupport their needs the most. Therefore, it is our

job as academician to assure ourselves and ourstakeholders that any internationalization effortis carefully planned and continuously monitoredand evaluated and that improvements are beingmade to ensure that the international dimensionof teaching/learning, research, and service iscontributing to the relevance and quality of higher education (Knight, 2001).

More research on student developmentshould be undertaken so we can tap theirpotential early and nurture them to become aholistic world class professional.

References

1. Daly, A. J. and M. C. Barker (2005)."Australian and New ZealandUniversity Students' Participation inInternational Exchange Programs."Journal of Studies in InternationalEducation 9(1): 26-41.

2. Deardorff, D. K. (2004). TheIdentification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a StudentOutcome of Internationalization atInstitutions of Higher Education in The

United States Department of Adult andCommunity College Education Raleigh,North Carolina, North Carolina StateUniversity. Degree of Doctor of Education: 337.

3. Edwards, J. (2007). "Challenges andOpportunities for theInternationalization of HigherEducation in the Coming Decade:Planned and Opportunistic Initiatives inAmerican Institutions." Journal of Studies in International Education 11 :

373-381.

4. Guest, D., M. Livett, et al. (2006)."Fostering International StudentExchanges for Science Students."Journal of Studies in InternationalEducation 10: 378-395.

5. Hanassab, S. (2006). "Diversity,International Students, and Perceived



Discrimination: Implications forEducators and Counselors." Journal of Studies in International Education10(2): 157-172.

6. Hanassab, S. and R. Tidwell (2002)."International Students in HigherEducation: Identification of Needs andImplications for Policy and Practice."Journal of Studies in InternationalEducation 6(4): 305-322.

7. Knight, J. (2001). "Monitoring theQuality and Progress of Internationalization." Journal of Studiesin International Education 5(3): 228-243.

8. Knight, J. (2004). "InternationalizationRemodeled: Definition, Approaches,and Rationales." Journal of Studies inInternational Education 8: 5-31.

9. Leask, B. (2004). "InternationalisationOutcomes for All Students UsingInformation and CommunicationTechnologies (ICTs)." Journal of Studies in International Education 8(4):336-351.

10. Mohamad, N., M. Jantan, et al. (2008).Internationalisation and InternationalLinkages: The State of Malaysian

Higher Education Institutions.Enhancing the Quality of HigherEducation through Research: ShapingFuture Policy, Kuala Lumpur, Ministryof Higher Education, Malaysia.

11. Rouhani, S. and R. Kishun (2004)."Introduction: Internationalisation of Higher Education in (South) Africa."Journal of Studies in InternationalEducation 8: 235-243.

12. Schoorinan, D. (1999). "The

Pedagogical Implications of DiverseConceptualizations of Internationalization: A U.S. Based CaseStudy." Journal of Studies inInternational Education 3(19-46).

13. Smith, L. M. and A. N. Rae (2006)."Coping with Demand: ManagingInternational Student Numbers at NewZealand Universities." Journal of

Studies in International Education 10:27-45.

14. Stone, N. (2006). "Internationalising theStudent learning Experience: PossibleIndicators." Journal of Studies inInternational Education 10: 409-413.

Documents

5b Student Development