Page 39 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience

Astin’s (1999) Student Involvement Theory (SIT) provides a framework to define integration and understand its significance. SIT argues that students change and develop because of being involved and integrated in their higher education institution, and that level of involvement is linked with student outcomes. It considers student demographic variables such as nationality and cultural context, as well as the student’s environment, including level of involvement and integration. All these elements support the use of nationality and integration as a lens to understand student satisfaction, as is done in this study.
Another theory that this study draws on is intercultural adaptation theory. Research on intercultural adaptation has evolved from early findings, which viewed intercultural adaptation and culture shock as “occupational” diseases, listing symptoms including a feeling of helplessness, homesickness, and irritability (Oberg, 1954). A more recent model of intercultural adaptation, developed by Searle and Ward (1990) broadly divides it into two dimensions, both of which are situated within a culture learning framework: psychological, which is based on affective feelings of well-being and satisfaction during adaptation, and sociocultural, which is based on behaviours that allow one to integrate in a new environment.
An important model for understanding student satisfaction comes from Vincent Tinto (1975), whose Student Integration Model (SIM), updated in 2012, suggests that a students’ sense of belonging, defined as “the feeling of being a member of one or more communities at university and feeling support for being present at the university”, is a crucial element in their satisfaction level, academic success and retention. Other studies back the notion that academic and social integration are distinct and impactful elements of the student experience (Severiens & Wolff, 2008; Rienties et al., 2012). Taken together, these models provide a foundation to examine social and academic integration, while seeking to understand their relationships with nationality and satisfaction.
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The Role of Integration
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