In diverse university contexts, students need to constantly navigate and negotiate their social identities. Students bring their unique embedded histories and cultures to the university context and position and reposition themselves to experience a sense of belonging. These experiences contribute to student self-formation and sense of being. This…

Many international students are looking to improve their career opportunities pursuing a specific career when they study in the U.S.; however, they confront struggles because they are less prepared in career readiness. Their voices are easily ignored because they are less vocal and have been told to obey the rules; at the same time, their needs…

This study investigates Chinese international students' acculturation strategies and pragmatic intentions to address identity conflicts in Hong Kong study experiences through a developmental lens. We treat conflicts and stressors as indicators of active commitments and the process of engagement as strategic, goal-oriented, intentional investments…

Research concerning Indian American Christian college students' experiences is virtually non-existent, leaving scholars and student affairs professionals lacking empirical data to support this population. This qualitative study explores how the experiences of 15 Indian American college students involved in Christian Student Organizations (CSOs)…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore US students' experience in for-credit, unpaid internships overseas with particular reference to their personal development, how they mobilised their knowledge across contexts, their learning as acquisition and as participation, and what they contributed. Students were thought likely to encounter…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become an avant-garde term in the last few years. It is how people acquire and apply knowledge, attitudes and skills to understand and control emotions. Incorporating the SEL perspective, teachers can not only help students set and achieve positive goals, but also help students understand how empathizing…

Young people now more than ever live in a diverse, complicated world. In spite of the qualitative proliferation of differences, however, the current social situation in late-stage capitalism is articulated as superficial multiculturalism. Critically examining how bodies materially experience cultural boundaries is then important for enhancing the…

This paper presents qualitative research examining to what extent sojourns abroad engage their participants in intercultural interactions and whether or not such experience translates into students' intercultural growth. The results of the study demonstrated that studying abroad did not provide students with ample opportunities to immerse into the…

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate students' developmental readiness to navigate dissonance and experience transformation as they engaged in an international service-learning program. Using case-study methodology, researchers collected data from a diverse group of 7 graduate students and 5 undergraduate students who…

Existing research points toward dissonance as the primary catalyst in self-authorship development. This study investigated the cultural relevance of current conceptions of dissonance's role in self-authorship development. A total of 166 participants of color were recruited from three large public research universities from different regions in the…

In this paper, we examine the case of Veronica, an American undergraduate studying abroad in Paris, whose struggles to negotiate linguistic and cultural differences highlight a deeply personal and emotional attempt to reconcile the symbolic values she assigns to her national, ethnic and "imagined" identities. While at first glance this…

"Educational Theories, Cultures and Learning" focuses on how education is understood in different cultures, the theories and related assumptions we make about learners and students and how we think about them, and how we can understand the principle actors in education--learners and teachers. Within this volume, internationally renowned…

This paper discusses the background and key findings of a two-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded mixed-method research project (2006-2008) which was designed, within the context of university internationalisation, to provide an investigation of the experiences of first-year international students during their undergraduate…

Explores Black student needs in a primarily White college setting. A Black awareness student workshop was conducted to promote Black unity and pride, examine similarities with Whites and the uniqueness of Black students, and to increase self-awareness. Black students were found to have similar needs to White students. (RC)

This study examined minority and nontraditional college students and how new approaches to learning and student development may validate culturally diverse students and thus improve their achievement. The project interviewed 132 first-year students at four different types of institutional settings. Students were selected from diverse cultural and…