A closer look at the experiences of international graduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Connections to wellbeing

Graduate education, especially at the doctoral level, provides students with opportunities to learn, grow, and gain independence as scholars, as well as gives rise to a certain degree of stress. The stress level that the program itself generates as a matter of course scales up with additional challenges for some graduate students, including deficient academic engagement or, in some cases, poor relationships with their supervisors. Other additional stressors can be counted, like a reverted work-life balance, financial difficulties, a lack of permanent employment, the pressure to publish in high-impact journals and participate in conferences or congresses, and the feeling of an uncertain future. This chapter is a collaborative autoethnographic study seeking to explore the authors experiences as international doctoral students leading transnational lives in Canada. They are three international Turkish, Chinese, and Vietnamese doctoral students in a Joint Ph.D. in Educational Studies program at a Canadian university. Acknowledging the diverse demographic backgrounds-including gender, race, ethnicity, and class-the chapter aims to situate the collaboration in a critical discussion on different challenges the authors faced and resources they used while learning and sustaining doctoral studies amidst a global crisis, which are emerging themes in their findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Supporting student and faculty wellbeing in graduate education: Teaching, learning, policy, and praxis

Promoting and sustaining wellbeing have gained prominence in a globalizing world, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher-education institutions are increasingly expected to consider and support the wellbeing of their students, staff, and faculty. Within higher education, new understandings are emerging about the intricacies and intersectionalities of psychological, social, and cultural factors that impact wellbeing of diverse individuals, including Indigenous, international, refugee, immigrant, and other marginalized groups. There is growing recognition that learning and working within academia are stressful experiences for faculty and graduate students. The need to understand wellbeing in general and wellbeing in graduate education, in particular, is also evident in the reports and studies that indicate an emerging crisis of wellbeing among graduate students and faculty. This book recognizes new pressures impacting graduate students and their supervisors, teachers, and mentors globally. It provides a range of insights and strategies which reflect on wellbeing as an integral part of teaching, learning, policy, and student-mentor relationships. The book offers a uniquely holistic approach to supporting the wellbeing of both students and academic staff in graduate education. It showcases optimized approaches to self-care, self-regulation, and policy development, as well as trauma-informed, arts-based, and embodied pedagogies. Particular attention is given to the challenges faced by minority groups including Indigenous, international, refugee, and immigrant students and staff. Providing a timely analysis of the current issues surrounding student and faculty wellbeing, the book appeals to scholars and researchers working across the fields of higher education, sociology of education, educational psychology, and student affairs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)