Page 24 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience

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Chapter 1
international higher education is increasing—in 2012, there were 472 publications by 3,362 researchers from 1,164 different institutions— only 11% of publications were authored by researchers from two or more countries (Kuzhabekova et al., 2015). This paper is the result of an international research collaboration involving several countries and institutions. It is composed of four empirical studies that examine different facets of the international student experience. The following section explains the theoretical foundations on which these studies are based. Then, the research questions are explained. The four studies are then presented and discussed. The final chapter summarizes the findings of the studies and addresses the implications, limitations, and future research potential.
theoretiCAl foundAtionS
There are three core theories and paradigms that have guided this research. First, Student Involvement Theory, originally developed by Alexander Astin in 1984 and updated in 1999, provides a framework for examining how international student satisfaction is influenced by external factors. Second, the Student Integration Model, developed by Vincent Tinto in 1975, assumes that students who exhibit higher levels of social integration in the campus environment are more likely to feel attached to the institution, which in turn increases the likelihood of graduation. Finally, the Global Integration-Local Responsiveness (I-R) paradigm developed by C.K. Prahalad and Yves Doz in 1987 sees a core challenge for multinational corporations (MNCs) as managing the pressure to standardize their services across markets while adapting to local markets.
Theories of Student Involvement and Integration
Student Involvement Theory postulates that students are shaped by their engagement with their higher education institution and that the extent and nature of engagement is related to student outcomes. It takes into account student demographic variables such as nationality and cultural environment. Alexander Astin, who originally developed the theory in 1984 and updated it in 1999, conceptualizes a student’s level of involvement as a function of how much physical and mental