Page 36 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience

34
Chapter 2
Research indicates that student satisfaction and integration vary among nationalities (Arambewela & Hall, 2009; Garrett, 2014; Archer, 2015), and that both social and academic integration impacts student satisfaction levels (Korobova & Starobin, 2015; Zhang & Goodson, 2011). This study goes further down these avenues of research, exploring the role that integration plays in understanding differences in student satisfaction among nationalities. It focuses on degree-seeking undergraduate students from China, India, and South Korea studying in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia- the top three sending and receiving countries for international students, respectively.
literAture And theoretiCAl foundAtionS
Studies about international student experience have repeatedly indicated that differences exist among nationalities (Ammigan & Jones, 2018; Garrett, 2014; Arambewela & Hall, 2007). For example, among international students studying in the US, European and Indian students expressed the highest overall satisfaction rates (Roy, Lu, & Loo, 2016). There is evidence of a link between proficiency in English and international students’ academic outcomes, which may lend an advantage to international students from countries where English is spoken (Poyrazli et al., 2001; Poyrazli & Kavanaugh, 2006; Andrade, 2006).
Both contextual and cultural factors contribute to differences in the student experience—for example, students from Saudi Arabia supported by the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) may be able to avoid some of the financial challenges associated with studying abroad, and so may be less cost-sensitive than students without scholarship support in deciding where to study (Alhazmi, 2010). Graduate students from Asia studying in Australia tend to be more concerned with safety, which therefore plays a larger role than other factors in determining their satisfaction (Arambewela & Hall, 2007). Differences between nationalities raise the question of why they exist, and whether indirect effects from other variables play a role. There is a gap in existing research exploring the role of integration in differences in satisfaction among nationalities.