Global representations of international students in a time of crisis: A qualitative analysis of Twitter data during COVID-19

International students have been historically valued by universities for their contributions to their host countries. Yet, representations of international students in the general public have become increasingly mixed, an issue likely exacerbated by COVID-19, which has shown increased hostility towards international students. Given the increased reports of discrimination during this period, there is ongoing need to understand how international students have been represented in this specific time of crisis. Our study analysed public representations of international students through Twitter data and qualitative analysis of 6,501 posts made during the immediate COVID-19 crisis (January-April 2020). Our findings confirm competing public representations of international students that changed over time: initially through stereotyping and depictions as assumed disease carriers, shifting to empathy and support after university campus closures. We also outline themes of racism and discrimination, which are of importance for the global higher education sector as we move into a post-COVID world.

COVID-19 and Intentions to Study Abroad: Evidence from Overseas University Applications to the UK

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how COVID-19 impacted overseas students' decision to apply for an undergraduate degree at UK universities. Design/methodology/approach: This study compares the number of university applications from overseas students in summer and autumn 2020 with those in the period 2011-2019. Multivariate analysis techniques are used. Findings: The results show that the pandemic has led to a drop in university applications from foreign students by 11-14%. Such decline has been driven by a reduction in the number of applicants from high-income countries as opposed to those from middle-lower income countries. Two explanations may account for this finding. First, students from affluent countries, compared to those from poorer countries, may be more likely to find a good alternative to the UK where to carry out their studies (including their home country). Second, the option of deferring study abroad plans due to the pandemic may be more affordable for applicants from high-income countries. Originality/value: While understanding how COVID-19 has impacted international student mobility is an emerging issue in the literature, not only are there few studies providing evidence on this, but these are based on qualitative analysis. This paper uses quantitative methods that allow to separate the effect of COVID-19 from that associated with other factors affecting the flow of international students.

Innovative Digital Practices and Globalization in Higher Education. Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development (AHEPD) Book Series

We are moving toward a future in which digital practices are becoming more ubiquitous. Also, there is evidence to suggest that innovative digital practices are changing the face of 21st-century learning environments. Critical to 21st-century teaching and learning success is continued emphasis on learner preferences, shaped by innovative digital technology-driven learning environments alongside teacher awareness, knowledge, and preparedness to deliver high-impact instruction using active learning pedagogies. Thus, the purposeful and selective use of digital learning tools in higher education and the incorporation of appropriate active learning pedagogies are pivotal to enhancing and supporting meaningful student learning. "Innovative Digital Practices and Globalization in Higher Education" explores innovative digital practices to enhance academic performance for digital learners and prepare qualified graduates who are competent to work in an increasingly global digital workplace. Global competence has become an essential part of higher education and professional development. As such, it is the responsibility of higher education institutions to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to compete in the digital and global market. Covering topics such as design thinking, international students, and digital teaching innovation, this premier reference source is an essential resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, educational technologists, instructional designers, faculty, administrators, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

Migration aspirations and polymorphic identifications of the homeland: (im)mobility trajectories amongst Chinese international students amidst COVID-19

Drawing on longitudinal research with 33 Chinese international students in 10 European countries, this article examines their polymorphic identifications towards homeland and asks how these changing perceptions constitute the underlying logic of their particular migration aspirations during the COVID-19. Specifically, the article explores how homeland identifications function as a driving force to facilitate ‘voluntary immobility' in the study destination while being used as a tackling strategy to adapt to their ‘involuntary immobility' overseas. It also examines how these identifications articulate with the students' mixing and shifting migration aspirations formulated during the pandemic. In doing so, the article demonstrates that polymorphic perceptions closely relate to the generation, exercise and reproduction of their migration aspirations that are temporally distributed.

COVID-19 A Longitudinal Perspective on Sustained Remote Teaching From the Republic of Korea

In the Republic of Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the start of the 2020 academic year and saw emergency remote teaching (ERT) emerge as a way of maintaining educational continuity for millions of students. While ERT was new and unplanned at the time, the practice became sustained over the semesters that followed, marking a shift from ERT to sustained remote teaching (SRT). Questions remain, however, whether students' experiences and perceptions with learning remotely would improve as a result of institutional preparedness and faculty experience. Given this, we investigated exchange students', a unique group of students who are historically interested in having place-based residential education, experiences, and perceptions with SRT while attending college in Korea. We administered a survey to 140 (spring 2020), 93 (fall 2020), 141 (spring 2021), and 143 (fall 2021) exchange students where they rated their perceptions of teaching and learning processes, student support, and course structure with their SRT learning experiences. Independent-samples one-way ANOVAs comparing perceptions between Semester 1 and 2, Semester 2 and 3, Semester 3 and 4, and Semester 1 and 4 indicated several statistically significant mean score increases, though the scope and degree of the changes are ultimately minor improvements and interpreted as insignificant. Implications for SRT policy and future research are discussed.

Multilevel governance, community and emergency management during the pandemic: migrants in Japan

PurposeBuilding on perspectives from the study of multilevel governance, migrants' inclusion and emergency management, this article asks how differences across national regulations for foreign residents, work eligibility and access to national emergency supports intersected with local approaches in responding to migrants.Design/methodology/approachThis article examines national policy adjustments and parallel subnational governance early in the pandemic for three groups of foreign residents: international students, technical interns and co-ethnics with long-term visas, primarily Brazilians and Peruvians. It uses Japanese-language documents to trace national policy responses. To grasp subnational governance, the article analyzes coverage in six Japanese regional newspapers from northern, central and western Japan, for the period of April 1 to October 1, 2020.FindingsNational policies obstructed or enabled migrants' treatment as members of the local community but did not dictate this membership, which varied according to migrant group. Migrants' relationship to the community affected available supports.Originality/valueThe article brings together perspectives on multilevel governance, emergency management and migrants' inclusion. It exposes how different migrant groups' ties to the local community affected access to supports.

Qualitative Research with Former International Students: Reflections on Conceptualization, Planning and Relational Engagement

The number of international students seeking a foreign education, particularly in Westernized countries, has grown dramatically over the past decade, and is predicted to continue to increase, despite a period of disruption due to COVID-19. Given this growth, there is a significant body of research on key insights into the initial transition experiences, both academic and personal, of international students to the host country, with a developing body of research exploring their post-study transition. Understanding these post-study transitions is important in creating policy and services that appropriately support international students. Due to the diverse and sometimes complex post-study pathways of former international students, accessing this population to conduct qualitative research can create challenges for researchers. To help address these challenges, the authors highlight three critical considerations based on their qualitative research experiences in Westernized countries with former international students, including conceptual understandings, logistical planning, and relational engagement. Moreover, the authors share examples of pragmatic solutions related to challenges with conceptual understandings, logistical planning, and relational engagement in qualitative research with former international students. The purpose of this article is to start and invite discussion around how best to reach, access, and work with former international students to expand qualitative research on the post-study experience.

International Student Mobility in Crises: Globalization and Foucault's Rhetoric Question

(1999) understand globalization as "a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions—assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact—generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and the exercise of power” (p. 6). Discussion: "Neoliberal globalization” and student mobility in crises I personally use the term neoliberal globalization in that I critique "neoliberalism as an ideology, political philosophy, economic doctrine and policy model has been embraced by many Western countries and multilateral institutions and embedded in contemporary globalization” (Zheng & Kapoor, 2020, Neoliberal globalization and opening-up section, para. 1) and argue ISM across national borders has been significantly influenced by neoliberal globalization and neoliberalism-doctrined supranational organizations like the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, which promote the removal of barriers and the liberalization of international trade. [...]ISM can be regarded as a flow because it bears the specific social and educational meaning and has caused some global effects as an increasing number of international students cross borders for education (Zheng, 2010). [...]China's outbound ISM might be affected in that it is confined to many uncertain factors, such as the capacity of foreign higher education institutions, available financial support for Chinese students from the Chinese government, students' family, or foreign higher education institutions, and visa requirement of foreign countries.

Interactive Strategies of Chinese Cloud Classroom Based on the Perspective of Meta Universe

With the American social software Facebook officially announced its name change to "Meta”, the concept of "Meta Universe” has really entered the public field. The meta universe is an Internet social form based on the integrated application of various emerging information technologies. It has transformative value for the future development of all walks of life, including the education industry. Since the outbreak of covid-19, online Chinese learning of most foreign students has changed from a short-term accidental state to a normal state. In this way, we must pay attention to how to seize the opportunity of the development of meta universe technology, combine the meta universe cloud classroom with AI digital people, and create a new scene of educational application integrating multiple technologies under the new AI ecology. Only in this way can we build a new educational paradigm change, and solve some bottlenecks and difficulties in the current development of Chinese cloud classroom interaction for foreign students, so that classroom teaching can truly promote the development of students' knowledge, ability and emotion, and finally cultivate students' innovative spirit and practical ability. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Higher Education Development and Student Mobility During Crises: From a Comparative and Historical Perspective

More advanced transportation and a much flatter world structure accelerate the internationalization process of higher education, and which also makes it possible for the virus to spread quickly around the world. [...]in the age of globalization, there are much more potential factors that may cause global/regional social crises. Harari (2018) proposed in his 21 Lessons for the 21st Century that human beings are now facing new challenges caused by global warming, big data algorithms, and terrorism, and "when the old stories have collapsed, no new story has emerged so far to replace them.” [...]although the nature of medieval universities still more or less influences the current higher education, while anticipating the future trend of cross-border student mobility, it seems more appropriate to use the premodern history as a supplement, rather than evidence for proving that history repeats itself. According to the university archives, "over 500 UNC students had been treated in the infirmary and seven had died as a result of complications with the illness” (Cozens, 2020, para. 10). [...]presently, the State of New York is still the second most popular destination for international students in the U.S., and New York University in the City of New York "has been the leading host university for international students” since 2013 (Zong & Batalova, 2018, para. 16).

Engaging ESL Students by Online Discussion Forum and Gamification: Teaching Social Sciences to BA Students in a Chinese Transnational University in the Covid-19 Context

In recent years, transnational education (TNE) has seen a surge in numbers across the world and especially in Asian countries. Although student participation is underlined in TNE universities, it can be difficult to achieve due to local students' lack of confidence in English speaking and other locally socio-cultural reasons. Reflecting on the author's teaching practice in a TNE university based in China for two years, this paper discusses the use and value of combining online forum discussion (ODF) with gamification to engage English-as-second-language (ESL) students in a BA-level social sciences module. Combining qualitative in-depth interviews, longitudinal observation and quantitative data analysis, the research explores students' motivations for ODF participation, the contribution of ODF to classroom discussion, as well as the correlation between class participation (including ODF participation) and academic performance. It argues that instructors' facilitation, involvement and the establishment of a learning community are pre-conditions for an active discussion forum to take place, which in turn improves ESL students' class participation and strengthens a sense of connection particularly valuable in the current context of Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, gamification mechanism such as badges and rewards can help to maintain students' engagement and meet their desire for recognition. In addition, ODF participation is found positively correlated with a student's academic performance on a statistically significant level.

IMPACT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION ON STUDENTS' HEALTH.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: Studying the impact of distance learning on students' health. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Special research methods and medical-statistical method. Domestic and foreign students were subject of the study during the online form of education, in connection with Covid-19, poll was made using Google Forms. RESULTS: Results: 333 students participated in the study (22.3% - domestic and 77.7% - foreign students). It was established that 88.3% of foreign and 40.5% of domestic students did not suffer from COVID-19 in the past. The overwhelming majority of respondents (86.5% domestic and 85.1% foreign) noted anxiety and concern for their health. 59.4% of domestic and 63.4% of foreign students noted the deterioration of their mental health and increased anxiety during distance learning. Depressive conditions were experienced by 49.3% of foreigners and 52.0% of domestic respondents. The respondents noticed the negative impact of distance learning on their daily routines, namely sleep, nutrition and active recreation, etc. The most frequent complaints were back pain, headaches, and visual impairment. Students noticed that during online classes their academic performance decreases. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The transition to online education had a negative impact on the physical and mental health of students, which was manifested in the presence and growth of anxiety and depression, a lack of live communication, sleep and eating disorders, reduced physical activity, the appearance of headaches and back pain, vision problems, attention disorders, and a decline in academic performance.

Living with Insecurities During COVID-19: The Impact of Hard Restrictions on South Asian International Students in Australia

The outbreak of COVID-19 exacerbated the structural vulnerabilities of marginalised populations globally. In Australia, international students experienced various forms of hardship due to state-mandated public health restrictions. In this exploratory study, we discuss the impacts of hard restrictions on South Asian international students studying at universities in Melbourne. Visa temporality, limited work rights, concentration into precarious and low-paid work, obligations to pay costly higher education fees, and exclusion from social security and universal healthcare contribute to the long-term structural vulnerabilities of international students in Australia. With restrictions in Melbourne leading to widespread job loss in the hospitality and accommodation services sectors during 2020-2021, the state response to pandemic caused further marginalisation of internaitonal students.We show how the public health response to the COVID-19 worsened, rather than protected or improved, self-reported health and wellbeing outcomes for our participants. By centring the lived experiences of South Asian international students, our research contributes to a growing body of evidence detailing how the public health response to pandemic has further subordinated temporary visa holders in Australia. In the future, we recommend inclusive, equitable public health responses which universalise key protective measures such as social security support, regardless of citizenship or visa status.

Temporary Residents, Lasting Issues: International Graduate Students and Covid-19

La pandémie de Covid-19 a rendu les résidents temporaires au Canada particulièrement vulnérables, car leur statut juridique précaire, les obstacles à l'accès aux soins de santé, l'insécurité financière et professionnelle, l'impossibilité de voyager et l'isolement social se sont intensifiés. Les étudiants internationaux étaient parmi ceux qui devaient relever ces défis tout en étant rendus invisibles en raison de leur statut inconstant d'étudiants et de résidents temporaires. Nos recherches auprès d'étudiants étrangers diplômés et de leurs familles montrent que, même avant la pandémie, cette population était confrontée à des problèmes d'insécurité financière, d'équilibre entre vie professionnelle et vie privée, d'isolement social et de restrictions de voyage, problèmes aggravés par l'entrecroisement de la race et du genre, et exacerbés par la Covid-19. Étant donné que la pandémie de Covid-19 a amplifié les inégalités sous-jacentes au Canada au niveau systémique, avec plus de personnes racialisées atteints de Covid-19 et qui en meurent, et plus de personnes racialisées avec un statut légal précaire qui perdent leur gagnepain, nous pouvons postuler que les étudiants internationaux ne font pas exception. Les mesures adoptées par le gouvernement canadien, telles que la prestation d'urgence pour les étudiants canadiens, excluent les étudiants internationaux, qui contribuent à l'économie canadienne à hauteur de plus de 20 milliards de dollars par an et sont une source de revenus pour les universités et les collèges canadiens. Dans cet article, nous examinons comment la pandémie de Covid-19 a affecté les étudiants internationaux diplômés et leur vie familiale dans une ville de l'Alberta et quel impact les politiques gouvernementales ont eu sur leur vie. Basé sur 20 entretiens approfondis avec des étudiants étrangers diplômés et leurs conjoints, cet article met en évidence la disparité de soutien entre les étudiants étrangers et les citoyens canadiens pendant la pandémie, y compris le soutien financier, l'assistance institutionnelle, l'isolement et les interactions transnationales. Nous explorons également la manière dont les hypothèses institutionnelles et les politiques gouvernementales durant la pandémie sapent l'expérience sexiste et racialisée des étudiants étrangers diplômés avec leur famille immédiate et transnationale. Nous proposons à travers notre analyse que le traitement des étudiants internationaux pendant la pandémie devrait être une préoccupation de justice académique étant donné le statut vulnérable, précaire et relativement invisible de cette population, souligné en outre par les discriminations intersectionnelles vécues par de nombreux étudiants qui cherchent à trouver un avenir au Canada.Alternate :The Covid-19 pandemic made temporary residents in Canada particularly vulnerable, as their precarious legal status, barriers in accessing healthcare, financial and job insecurity, the impossibility of travel, and social isolation intensified. International students were among those who had to navigate these challenges while being made invisible due to their liminal status of being students and temporary residents. Our research with international graduate students and their families shows that even in pre-pandemic times, this population was battling financial insecurities, issues of worklife balance, social isolation, and travel restrictions;issues compounded at the intersections of race and gender and exacerbated by Covid-19. Given that the Covid-19 pandemic has amplified underlying inequities in Canada at the systemic level, with more racialized people being infected with Covid-19 and dying from it, and more racialized people with precarious legal status losing their livelihood, we can assume that international students are no exception. Measures adopted by the Canadian government, such as the Canada Student Emergency Benefit, excluded international students, who contribute over 20 billion dollars annuall to the Canadian economy and are a source of revenue for Canadian universities and colleges. In this paper, we explore how the Covid-19 pandemic affected international graduate students and their familial lives in a city in Alberta and what impact government policies had on their lives. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with international graduate students and their spouses, this paper highlights the disparity in support between international students and Canadian citizens during the pandemic, including financial support, institutional assistance, isolation, and transnational interactions. We also explore how institutional assumptions and governmental policies during the pandemic undermine the gendered and racialized experience of international graduate students with their immediate and transnational families. We contend through our analysis that the treatment of international students during the pandemic should be a concern of academic justice given the vulnerable, precarious, and relatively invisible status of this population, underscored further by the intersectional discriminations experienced by many students who are looking to find a future in Canada.

The Development of a Counseling Service Questionnaire: Study of Validation and Reliability

The study developed items of a counseling service questionnaire to aid counselors and universities in supporting students ' mental health. The participants of this study were 1,022 Chinese college students from three universities in Thailand. The questionnaire included development items and content validity and reliability testing. The questionnaire contained 17 items covering four aspects: (1) developmental counseling;(2) adaptive counseling;(3) disorder counseling;and (4) intervention in psychological crises. The results showed that the counseling services questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to determine students' mental health.

Post-Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Satisfaction of Foreign Students with Telelearning in Russian Universities

Introduction. The influx of foreign students into domestic universities makes it possible to attract foreign intellectual resources, develop international cooperation and diplomacy, and tools for the principles of "soft power”. In this regard, the urgent task is to study the satisfaction of foreign students of Russian universities with the parameters of distance technologies in the environment of a digital alternative to the educational system of higher education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods. Qualitative and quantitative methods of scientific knowledge were used as a tool for multi-stage research. At the first stage, a general theoretical method of analyzing the results of domestic and foreign studies was used. At the second, empirical stage of the study, the authors reasonably used methods of sociological survey of foreign students (N = 760 people) studying at universities located in various constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as an induction method for the purpose of interpreting and summarizing the results of the survey. Results. The assessment of the level of satisfaction with foreign students with the parameters of telelearning at Russian universities made it possible to develop practical-oriented recommendations in the field of digital competencies, technological and resource opportunities for better conduct of the educational process in remote digital format for foreign students in Russian universities. Discussion and Conclusion. The conclusions made by the authors make a theoretical and practical contribution to the development of scientifically based approaches and methodological tools for studying the level of satisfaction of foreign students with the parameters of distance learning in Russian universities. The materials of the article will be useful to scientists and researchers involved in such problems, as well as federal and regional governments, ministries of education, universities. © 2022 National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University. All rights reserved.

Foreign Language Anxiety in Multilingual Students Before and After Corona-Lockdown: A Comparative Analysis

The study is devoted to linguistic anxiety of multilingual students in the conditions of adaptation to foreign-language educational environment. The work was carried out in two stages covering the period of study before COVID and after COVID. The main goal was to reveal structural and contents differences of the phenomenon of linguistic anxiety depending on changes in educational conditions and general psychological atmosphere in Lockdown conditions. A total of 120 foreign students studying humanities were interviewed. A comparative analysis of the data obtained showed that the samples did not differ significantly in terms of the overall index of linguistic anxiety and resilience. However, there were differences in the basic constructs. Thus, bilingual students before Corona-Lockdown had the highest test anxiety score. Anxiety about communication apprehension was lower. The situation changed after Corona-Lockdown. Multilingual respondents revealed the maximum anxiety concerning live communication and the minimum concerning testing. Foreign language anxiety and resilience appeared to correlate. Factor analysis of the data for both samples revealed differences in the number of components and their compounds. In the first sample, the components with a communicative orientation prevailed, while in the second sample, the components with an evaluation-test orientation dominated. The study showed the variability of the components that make up the basic subconstructs of linguistic anxiety. The influence of individual cognitive characteristics and styles on linguistic anxiety was suggested. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Racialized (Im)mobilities: The Pandemic and Sinophobia in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countries all over the world, not only in relation to public health responses, but on multiple other societal levels. The pandemic has uncovered structural inequalities within and across societies and highlighted how race remains a powerful lens through which public policy responses are constructed and pursued. This paper examines (im)mobilities in Australia in the context of Asian, and more specifically Chinese-Australian citizens and residents, and how these have been framed in racialized discourses that justified exclusionary practices reminiscent of the White Australia ideology. The paper focuses on how Chinese Australians' mobilities have been (mis)represented and attacked in public and political discourse with particular attention to the situation of Chinese international students' (im)mobilities. Our conceptual attention in this paper, however, is not only on the racialization of mobilities but also immobilities, underpinned by an understanding of the relationality between Othered ‘migrants' and hosts, as well as between mobility and immobility. We conclude by discussing future patterns of mobility, how these will impact prospective migrants including international students, and what future forms of mobilities might mean for Australia as a country highly dependent on migrants for its economic, social and cultural development.

To the Problem of Forming Communicative Strategies for Successful Adaptation of Foreign Students Learning Russian Within a Distance Educational Paradigm

Objectives: The article is devoted to the discussion and analysis of the problem of forming communicative strategies for successful adaptation of foreign students learning Russian within a distance educational paradigm. Speaking generally, the problem can be divided into several rather complicated subitems connected with bilingual education: the first aspect is connected with formation of a speaking competence as it is and the second aspect is connected with technical support of this process due to pandemic and post-pandemic restrictions. The problem of technical accessibility of education under the virus spread circumstances turned out to be an essential one because the foreign students came to Russia for study were put in the same conditions as Russian students and were transferred to e-learning no matter they were staying in the country or left for motherland. We should note that the pandemic was the starting point for the development of the latest educational technologies, the introduction of new technical skills, innovative teaching methods and creativity. Digitalization was the only possible way out of the current situation, when there was an urgent necessity to adjust the society life and an educational process by any means. Methodology: The methodology of our research includes several theoretical and empirical investigation methods such as the method of analysis, comparison, experiment and observation. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Burnout - An Exponential Rise

Mental health at workplaces has taken a new dimension since the pandemic spread across the world. This research paper is an exploratory paper to understand the impact of COVID-19 on workplaces and their employees in the context of mental health. The pandemic highlighted the need to look at human beings as a whole self. Mental health became a reality as felt in waves of the Great Resignation movement. Burnout was experienced by many employees who were working already in high-pressure jobs pre-COVID. This study explores the impact of pandemic on health care workers (HCW) in hospitals and academics working in the tertiary sector in Australia. This is a qualitative study based on secondary research and partly based on the lived experience of the author. This paper delves into the causes of workplace stress and its impact on well-being of the workforce. Some strategies for managing these issues are recommended. Limitations of the paper include limited research and only two industry sectors in Australia are explored as part of this research.