International and Comparative Education Commons^™

Examining Cross-Cultural Communication Among First-Year Students At A Large, Four-Year, Research University, Haley French-Sloan

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study examines and explores cross-cultural communication among first-year international and domestic students at Great Plains University, a large, four-year, research university located in the Midwestern United States. Specifically, this case study examines the ways in which first-year international and domestic students make decisions about whether and how to interact with one another across culture in the classroom. The literature review discusses both international and domestic students’ experiences and perceptions regarding intercultural communication, and also introduces a variety of barriers and facilitators of cross-cultural communication. Through introducing and relating cross-cultural communication to the goals of international education, the …

Enhancing Cross-Border Higher Education Institution Mobility In The Apec Region, Sarah Richardson

Higher education research

This report presents findings of a study of the policy context around higher education institution (HEI) mobility in eight APEC economies – China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam. The report provides insights into different policy contexts gathered from desktop research and from interviews with 68 participants. These all had direct involvement in HEI mobility in the eight economies in the study, including through senior positions in ministries of education, in bodies aligned to ministries, in accreditation and quality assurance agencies, and in foreign and local HEIs. The report identifies regulations, practices, policies, legislative contexts and …

Ways In Which Community Involvement May Influence Girls’ Education In Senegal, Babou Ndiaye

Masters Theses

This study attempts to examine through the lens of social feminist theory the ways in which community involvement may influence girls’ education in Senegal. It highlights the extent to which networking, advocacy, and meaningful interactions between community and school may contribute to improving access, learning conditions, and academic achievements for girls. The paper also provides an analysis of the adverse effects of community involvement on girls’ education in Senegal. It underscores the extent to which patriarchy and class interfere to shape community involvement and undermine girls’ education, in terms of both access and quality. The paper further sketches a combination …

Ensuring Social Success: Assessing The Factors That Affect The Social Experiences Of International Students At A Large, Urban Community College In Texas, Sharon A. Miller

Capstone Collection

According to the 2014 Open Doors report published by the Institute of International Education, 87,963 international students enrolled in community colleges and/or associate’s degree granting institutions during the 2013-2014 academic year. Community colleges offer many benefits to international students, such as lower tuition, less restrictive English proficiency requirements, smaller class size, and transferability of credits to four-year institutions.

Past studies have found connections between social relationships and the ability to manage acculturative stress and student satisfaction. Nevertheless, international students attending a community college face different social challenges than those who choose to attend a residential four-year university. Lack of student …

The Global Village: Improving Intercultural Experiences At Keene State College Through Living/Learning Communities, Laura Zuelch

Capstone Collection

Comprehensive internationalization is a paradigm in higher education that recognizes the many aspects of higher education affected by an internationalizing world (Hudzik, 2011). At Keene State College, internationalization is limited to the outbound study abroad students and the few inbound exchange students each semester. There are also few opportunities for Keene State students to gain an intercultural experience without leaving campus, which can be difficult for some students to manage. There is an opportunity to build on the existing Living/Learning Community framework to create a new Living/Learning Community that can address the trend for increased internationalization on campus as well …

Redesigning The Harlaxton College Resident Assistant Training Program, Whitney Cohen

Capstone Collection

This paper addresses the need for a comprehensive Resident Assistant (RA) training program for RAs participating in a study abroad program that includes both pre-departure and on-site trainings. This approach will “support students throughout the study abroad experience, highlighting ways to transform experiences into academic, personal, and professional growth” (Peterson et al., 2011). The program described here will be implemented beginning with the Fall 2015 cohort of RAs from Harlaxton College. Harlaxton College is a residential study abroad site in Grantham, United Kingdom that hosts approximately 160 students from U.S. universities each semester. This training program seeks to provide necessary …

Muslim Women: A Phenomenological Study Of The Effects Of Identity On Pursuing Higher Education, Rafael E. Harley

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the meanings, patterns, and essence of the lived experiences of Muslim women pursuing higher education, while developing a foundation for Muslim Women's Educational Identity Theory. The goal of the study was to develop a thorough and inclusive description of how identity formation affects the pursuit of higher education in order to increase awareness and develop programs that could improve the rate of pursuit of higher education for Muslim women. The importance of lessening gender bias amongst Muslims motivated this researcher to undertake this study. The research study involved a qualitative …

Everything Changed: Experiences Of International Students Affected By A Home Country Crisis, Caitlin J. Mcvay

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The population of international students studying in the United States continues to break record enrollments each year, growing to 886,052 students in 2014 according to Institute of International Education (IIE) data (IIE, 2014b). As these numbers increase, so too do the numbers of students affected by crises in their home countries. These students face a number of adjustment issues unique to their situations, and may require additional support from administrators and others at their institutions. This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the experiences of five international students who studied at two public universities in the western United States while large-scale crises …

Navigating Spaces: Exploring The Impact Of Study Abroad For U.S. Students Of Color, Virginia R. Downing

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Opportunities for international travel are becoming a necessity for undergraduate students in the United States. Students are taking advantage of study abroad experiences that will impact their future and provide benefits that students may not be able to receive in the U.S. The increase in scholarships and variety of cost-effective study abroad programs are allowing students from a variety of different backgrounds the opportunity to travel, which before was only seen as an opportunity for the wealthy. As study abroad continues to grow as a high impact practice, so should the way administrators approach the impact this experience has for …

Can They Teach Each Other? : The Restructuring Of Higher Education And The Rise Of Undergraduate Student “Teachers” In Ontario, Jennifer Massey, Sean Field

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

Changes to public funding regimes, coupled with transformations in how universities are managed and measured have altered the methods for educating undergraduate students. The growing reliance on teaching fellows, teaching assistants, and increasingly undergraduate peer educators (administering Supplemental Instruction [SI] programs) is promoted as a means toachieve a greater “return on investment” in the delivery of postsecondary education. Neoliberal discourses legitimating this downloading of teaching labour suggest it offers a “win-win” solution to the “problem” of educating growing numbers of undergraduate students. It proposes universities can deliver the same curricula, and achieve the same “outcomes” (primarily measured through grades and …

Georgia Latino & Immigrant-Serving Nonprofit Organizations: Identifying And Mapping Human Services, Karen Costa, Gabriela Mosso

Symposium of Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

Parental Mediation On Children's Television Viewing In Malaysia, Diyana Kamarudin

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The purpose of his study is to examine how Malaysian parents mediate their children's television viewing habits. This study looks at four types of mediation which are instructive, restrictive, social co-viewing and unstructured mediation. Data collection includes participants completing a daily diary over a one week period on how they mediate their children's television viewing and a one-on-one semi-structured interviews with each of the participant through web cam. In descending order the themes that were found to be the most important are religion, television is educational, parents advise children through television and television is used for families to get together.

German Federal Employment Agency: A Summer Internship Experience, Jessica D. Raboin

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

The Federal Employment Agency is the largest provider of labor market services in Germany, with over 700 agencies, an institute for employment research, international placement services, a university, leadership academy, and family benefits office, among other subdivisions. The agency is publicly-funded and has several integral responsibilities that are outlined in my poster. My interest in career counseling, labor market management and social services spurred my interest in independently arranging an internship for summer 2014 with an agency near Munich, Germany.

A Summer In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Mary Franz

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

As a fellow for the Center for Global Education's Summer Global Internship Program in 2014, I traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina where I had the opportunity to study, work, and volunteer abroad. It was a summer of growing in compassion and understanding; a summer of experiencing new cultures, foods, and religions; a summer of finding new passions and forming friendships; and most of all, a summer of transformation in which I gained new leadership, professional, and international skills.

La República Dominicana: Las Terrenas, Stefanie M. Havemeier

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Off the sandy beaches of Las Terrenas, The Dominican Republic, lies La Fundación Mahatma Gandhi and an energetic, ambitious, kind-hearted, and humble man, José Bourget, founder of the foundation. With the help of Bourget, six interns from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University lead summer camps at the foundation and in a nearby neighborhood. Children picked up trash, learned about dental hygiene, participated in new games, banged on musical instruments, and shouted out their favorite foods while learning about nutrition. The children in Las Terrenas and neighboring communities enjoyed summer camp activities but what the interns of …

Why Maasai Parents Enroll Their Children In Primary School: The Case Of Makuyuni In Northern Tanzania, Robinah Gimbo, Nadine Mujawamariya, Sara Saunders

Interdisciplinary Journal of Best Practices in Global Development

This study analyzes the reasons why the Makuyuni parents of Northern Tanzania do or do not enroll their children in school. Ten Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and several key informant (KI) interviews were conducted in the Mswakini Juu and Makuyuni villages. The parents who participated in the FGDs all had children in primary school at the time of interview. The findings revealed that reasons for enrolling these children in school included future economic stability for the family, government policies enforcing parents to enroll their children in primary school, partnership with World Vision, increased physical accessibility to education, and the World …

Undergraduate Chinese Student College Choice: Chinese Student Growth At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, Jacob Hoy-Elswick

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this mixed methods study, the researcher explored the importance of institutional characteristics and people who were influential in the college choice of first-year undergraduate Chinese students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL). The purpose of the research was to understand the impact and interplay of variables that previous research has shown to be significant in Chinese student decision making and how those variables applied to first-year students at UNL. A quantitative survey was administered to and completed by 25 students (n = 25) and analyzed through multivariate correlations. Qualitative surveys were then conducted with three students to gain depth …

Myth Or Reality: Catholic Inclusivity To Students From Other Religions, Nasser Razek

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

This qualitative study explored the multifaceted issue of cultural and religious challenges for an international Muslim group at a Catholic research institution. Measures employed by the university community to assert the friendliness of campus to students from other religions and student perceptions of the effectiveness of these measures are surveyed to reveal the inclusion of students from several religious affiliations, especially Muslim students. The study was based on in-depth interviews with Muslim students.

Data analysis revealed constructs that are pivotal to the case including consistency in affirming the Catholic identity of the university; intentionally avoiding the usage of solely Christian …

Traveling Trunks: Enrich Curriculum With A Global Perspective, Nancy Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Traveling trunks as a delivery method for curricula have been associated with experiential learning and shown to increase learning (George, 2010; Shepherd, 2007; Lett, 1993). Students learn through real-life experiences, such as global social issues (Kister, 1992), and principal to the nature of learning is the relationship between experience and learning, a shaping force in the development of thoughtful, curious students (Loughran, 2006).

The embedded mixed method study showed learning gains occurred when experiential curriculum was facilitated by experienced teachers, and delivered in a traveling trunk. The study (N=58) showed that active learning about social issues engages students. Paired t-tests …

A Question Of Perspective? Measuring Views On Equal Rights And Opportunities Among Minority Groups In European Large-Scale Surveys, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Attitudes toward diversity and acceptance of minorities have increasingly become a focus of public attention due to the transition of the European region toward a more diverse society. In recent years, many studies have gathered and presented data on perceptions of tolerance or attitudes toward equal rights for social groups across European countries. Whenever respondents are asked about their views on diversity, tolerance and acceptance with regard to specific social group, it is always important to take into account whether they belong to this particular group or not. However, when studying attitudes towards smaller minority groups, comparing attitudes between majority …

La Presencia De La Memoria Histórica Y Derechos Humanos En El Sistema Educativo: Una Comparación De Chile Y Argentina, Morgan Cowie-Haskell

Chile: Comparative Education and Social Change

Este estudio indaga la presencia y inclusión de memoria histórica y derechos humanos acerca de las últimas dictaduras dentro de los sistemas educativos en Argentina y Chile. Se discuten los sistemas educativos de cada país en sus contextos históricos, políticos, sociales y económicos. Luego, se une aquellos contextos con la incorporación y el valor de memoria y derechos humanos en la educación secundaria hoy en día. Se basa en fuentes académicas, las organizaciones derechos humanos, los sitios de memoria, los currículos de los Ministerios de Educación, y la contribución de opiniones profesionales tal como profesores, directores del colegios y trabajadores …

Vamos Creciendo La Educación Bilingüe E Intercultural En Ecuador: Lecciones De Peguche, Imbabura, Samantha Friedlander

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Aunque Ecuador es un país intercultural según la ley y según la sociedad, el pueblo Kichwa, un grupo indígena, ha sufrido mucha pérdida cultural debido al poder del colonialismo. Un sistema de educación bilingüe e intercultural empezó oficialmente en Ecuador con la DINEIB, Dirección Nacional de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe, bajo la dependencia del Ministerio de Educación, en 1988. Sin embargo, debido a problemas metodológicos, falta de profesores preparados y falta de apoyo del gobierno, este sistema educativo no tiene mucho éxito actualmente. El pueblo indígena no tiene autonomía, y hay una deficiencia de recursos y una falta de apoyo estatal …

Wmu International News Spring 2015, Haenicke Institute

WMU International News

• New sensor to monitor impacts on the gridiron
• Dominican Republic Ph.D. candidate a leader in green manufacturing at WMU
• Delivering fuel efficiency and reduced emissions key for Ford engineer
• Electrical engineer seeks new semiconductor for optoelectronics
• Improving communication systems drives computer science researcher
• CEAS alumnus improves health care commerce
• Degree research evolves into new company for WMU alumnus
• Roundabout ways to improve transportation captivate Tanzanian fellow
• Raspberry Pi focus of undergraduate research project
• Comparative learning key in WMU’s Engineering in China program
• ESL courses first step for future Congolese engineer

Language As The Foundation Of Identity Among Sherpa Youth In Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

This paper explores how young Sherpas in Nepal use their language as a tool for identifying themselves as uniquely Sherpa in a mutlicultural Nepal. By analyzing the way Sherpas use their language in social settings and at a radio station, the author suggests the Sherpa language is perhaps the only truly unique quality that delineates Sherpas from other Nepalis.

The Development Of Apartheid In The Naqab Israel’S Prawer Plan And The Jewish National Fund’S Blueprint Negev, Ayla Jay Schoenwald

Master's Theses

This study seeks to critique and confront past and present iterations of political Zionism through a combination of historical excavation and discursive analysis, informed by the present embodiment of this discourse in the form of violence and violations of Palestinian human rights in the context of the Naqab, the southern region of historic Palestine, where Bedouin communities continue to reside and resist Israel's (ongoing) colonization of their land. The Prawer Plan, a proposed Israeli policy to be implemented in the Naqab/Negev, threatens approximately 70,000 Arab Bedouin Israeli citizens of with forced expulsion and displacement. In addition, 35 Bedouin villages unrecognized …

Full Issue 7(1) Spring 2015

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Beyond Nafsa: An Assessment Of Professional Development Needs Of Secondary-Level International Education Professionals, Emily A. Keizer

Capstone Collection

For many professionals, attending a conference or workshop offered by a professional organization is a logical course of action. These resources help to expand knowledge of a field, improve performance at work and connect those who share interests. Almost every field has an organization or association of some sort that offers these type of professional development opportunities for individuals seeking to learn and grow in their work. However, high school level International Education professionals struggle to find this type of resource.

As an emerging subset of International Education, the field of international high school student advising is in need of …

Cal Poly Study Abroad Program Design For Facilitation Of Intercultural Competency, Erica Jorgenson

Capstone Collection

In the field of international education, we strive to assist students in their development through a study abroad experience, by either preparing them to study abroad, by creating intentional reflective practices to allow them to understand what they are learning while abroad and/or supporting them upon return to help them articulate their experiences either to career, academic and/or personal goals.

Specifically, at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, they have adopted the philosophy of providing students with an opportunity to learn through direct experience. Cal Poly’s guiding educational philosophy, often referred to as “Learn by Doing”, is one that the Study …

Transitions: The First Year Experience Of International Undergraduates At Yale College, Danielle Valles

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze what resources Yale College provides to support first year international students through their cultural, social, emotional, and academic transitions from international high school student to Yale College undergraduate. The college provides a number of resources that are classified as programmatic, structural, and personnel support services. The only programmatic service offered by Yale College for first year international students is the Orientation for International Students, run by older international students and supported by staff members of the Office of International Students and Scholars. The number one resource used without hesitation by …

The Responsibility To Protect: Emerging Norm Or Failed Doctrine?, Camila Pupparo

Global Tides

This paper seeks to investigate the current shift from the non-intervention norm towards the “Responsibility to Protect,” commonly abbreviated as “RtoP,” which actually mandates intervention in cases of humanitarian intervention disasters. I will look at the May 2011 application of the R2P doctrine to the humanitarian crisis in Libya and assess whether it was a success or a failure. Many critics of the “Responsibility to Protect” norm consider it to be yet another imperial tool used by the West to pursue national interests, so this paper analyzes this argument in detail, referring to case study examples, particularly in the Middle …