Page 125 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience
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well-being, and a greater role in student enrollment, recruitment, and mobility.
There are many reasons why the COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted the academic experience at IBCs. The effects were varied and far-reaching, in part because the pandemic removed the effects of what Samuelson and Zeckhauser (1988) called status quo bias: a preference for the current state. The widespread adoption of asynchronous learning methods, expanded services and resources to support student mental health, increased effort on the part of the IBC to foster a sense of community, and a greater role for IBC in enrollment, recruitment, and mobility initiatives of the university; all are examples of changes catalyzed by the pandemic, according to the findings of this research. The COVID-19 pandemic required greater communication between IBCs and home universities, which could then be leveraged for renewed teaching collaboration, more study opportunities for students, and more opportunities for international experiences for students at both universities.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought enormous disruption to higher education, including the operations of the IBCs. It forced an abrupt shift to online learning, slowed student mobility in most parts of the world, and profoundly affected students’ daily lives. However, some research suggests that the learning medium does not influence satisfaction. Rather, the didactic support offered and the belief that one’s learning goals were achieved are the most important predictors (Foerderer et al., 2021). The interviews with students confirmed this finding, as all students interviewed had found both positive and negative aspects to the switch to online learning and hoped that some aspects of it would remain in the long term.
The results of the study provide several points of reference for managers and academic staff at international branch universities and the home universities with which they are affiliated. The finding that IBCs are devoting more resources to student wellbeing supports evidence of the heavy toll the pandemic is taking on student mental
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Discussion and Conclusions
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