Page 78 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience
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Chapter 4
students are concerned with earning an academic qualification that is equivalent to the one earned at the home campus (Wilkins & Huisman, 2011; Wilkins, Balakrishnan, & Huisman, 2012). The global pandemic of COVID-19 has raised the question of whether increasing numbers of prospective international students may instead choose TNE in their home country. For these reasons, the question of equivalence of academic experience becomes even more salient to explore.
Likewise, the physical location of the international branch campus has bearing on the academic life of the campus. A case study from OBHE/ C-BERT on Nottingham Malaysia (UNMC) highlights this, quoting Provost Graham Kendall saying “We put GPS collars on elephants. They cannot do that in the UK. We do research on tropical plants. They can’t do that” (p. 29). In addition, the host countries of some IBCs may require certain coursework not required at other sites. In Malaysia, for example, the MQA mandates that all degrees must include Bahasa and Islamic Studies, resulting in additional credits required for students at UNMC than students at the UK campus to earn the same qualification.
Several seminal studies on student experience suggests students’ own perceptions of their learning environment, in light of their motivations and expectations, determine their approach to learning and academic outcomes (Biggs, 1989; Ramsden, 1979). Asking students themselves is an effective method of understanding their experiences (Chapman & Pyvis, 2007); for this reason, numerous studies have focused on evaluating transnational education from the student perspective (Humfrey, 2009; Miliszewska & Sztendur, 2012; Bhuian, 2016; Lee, 2017).
theoretiCAl foundAtionS
There are several theories that provide a foundation for looking specifically at academic satisfaction to understand how this affects the student experience. Theories grounded in psychology and sociology lend support to a student-centered approach to understanding their experience and, ultimately, outcomes, in higher education, focusing on factors such as perception of and attitude towards academics (Bean




























































































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