Introduction
Foreign scholars are increasingly becoming an essential part of institutions of higher learning and a relevant source of diversity in the United States. The U.S. has always been the target of most international students because of the well-developed curriculum and exceptional learning facilities. At the same time, colleges and universities are always willing to enroll international students because they are a significant source of revenue. Student involvement in university and college organizations has always been linked with a greater sense of belonging among learners and higher retention rates. Consequently, this research will focus on the sense of belonging among undergraduate international students at a selected university and how the group interacts with official student organizations.
There is a significant coexistence between students’ involvement in campus organizations and an appreciated sense of belonging that positively influences an individual’s overall performance in school. Queen’s University Belfast offers several student clubs such as sports and political organizations created and run by other scholars. These groups are meant to bring together all students to collectively explore various ideas on the members’ professions and their social interests. Averagely, 13% of the general student population in American universities is represented by international students (Hussain and Jones, 2021, p. 68). As a result, departments in colleges such as the Office of International Services are tasked with orienting new international students and facilitating their cultural, social, and educational needs within the school environment. These strategies are meant to help international students feel appreciated by their peers and the university management.
Nonetheless, few studies have been conducted in establishing the connection between individual engagement in official campus activities and the sense of belonging among international students. According to Brown et al. (2016, p.175), international scholars require more attention than the rest to attain social integration. This is because these individuals are far away from home, and as a result, it might be difficult for them to find that sense of belonging. International scholars often feel isolated and lonely because they are not familiar with campus-related activities, do not have friends, and lack the social support to give them a sense of connectedness.
Most American universities are committed to achieving culturally diverse environments that embrace international interactions among students. Consequently, Queen’s University Belfast has to ensure all students from various backgrounds feel part of campus communities. This is essential if new scholars from foreign nations are to participate in academic activities fully. Moreover, studies indicate that international students are at higher risk of dropping out of universities as a result of the existing differences in cultural norms, beliefs, and behavior, which are in most cases incompatible with the college environments in the U.S (Chen and Zhou, 2019, p. 55). Therefore, this study aims at answering the questions listed below.
Research Aim
To assess the impacts of international students’ involvement in official student organizations on their sense of belonging.
Research Questions
- Are international students actively involved with official student organizations?
- Is the involvement between international student communities with official student organizations impacting the sense of belonging on campuses?
- What are the trends in student involvement that can be observed among international communities in campus environments?
Research Objectives
- To evaluate the involvement of international students in official student organizations.
- To analyze the impact of the involvement between international student communities with official student organizations on the sense of belonging on campuses.
- To analyze the trends in student involvement that can be observed among international communities in campus environments.
Background of the Study
Increased Number of International Students in America
The United States is seen as the best destination for individuals who wish to further their studies because of the elaborate curriculum, the standard of education, and the general public perception that it is one of the most developed countries in the world. Consequently, students come from different regions and enroll in universities through scholarships and regular registration. According to Chen and Zhou (2019, p. 61), the number of international students in the U.S. keeps increasing annually, and based on statistics taken in 2018, the country hosted more than double the number of international students admitted in other nations. The American government embraces diversity and welcomes individuals who wish to be part of their education system regardless of their country of origin (Chen and Zhou, 2019, p. 61). Additionally, the rising number is an essential part of universities, and international students must have a sense of belonging in college communities.
Sense of Belonging
Humans are social beings and, therefore, will always long to identify themselves with a particular group for survival and self-satisfaction. Consequently, studies also indicate that students have a sincere longing to feel that they are appreciated as a vital component of a community that supports and values these scholars (Rivas, Burke, and Hale, 2019, p. 685). This need demonstrates that there is a connection between a sense of belonging and active social interactions. Studies have been conducted to investigate why students would drop out of institutions of higher learning and point out that an individual can still leave school when they are performing well in academics. The main reason why people terminate their studies even at the high school level is insufficient participation in an institution’s social life. Additionally, the theory of involvement suggests that retention rates in schools are dependent on student involvement (Rivas, Burke, and Hale, 2019, p. 701). Scholars who are aggressive in interacting with their peers and staff members are more likely to persist in their studies.
However, it is essential to note that factors that lead to student retention vary across student populations. Slaten et al. (2016, p. 384) indicate that one strategy that can apply to all learners in all institutions, particularly those from foreign regions, is inclusivity. All students need to feel equally appreciated and accorded the same level of academic and social support. According to Slaten et al. (2016, p.390), students who are likely to persevere through the difficulties in colleges are those who demonstrate behavior, norms, and values consistent with similar dominant qualities in their institutions. However, this can only be attained when all students feel invited to be part of such school communities.
Existing research on student engagement has been accompanied by the need to understand the role of different student identities such as ethnicity and race in influencing involvement. Consequently, Strayhorn (2020, p. 94) suggests applying the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) model in understanding the experiences of students of color as a factor in differentiating their sense of belonging and that of white scholars in the same campus environment. Based on the CECE framework, students’ attachments with their respective campus cultures are as crucial as the relationships between them and their peers.
Participation in Campus Organizations
The campus environment is equated to a home where the student is supposed to feel comfortable to excel in academics. The only way a scholar can feel safe in a college is if they actively participate in relevant formal and informal school programs. According to Wright-Mair (2020, p. 8), students who engage in university committees, organizations, and clubs establish a definite sense of belonging in campus environments compared to their dormant counterparts. A student can’t familiarize themselves with school traditions and values if they cannot participate in related activities. For instance, research indicates that students of color who participated in recognized campus organizations managed to minimize the feelings of being an alien or unconnected to the campus environment. Moreover, Wright-Mair (2020, p. 27) states that engaging in programs organized by students is crucial in enhancing social integration. Individuals who are open to participating in the activities have lower stress levels and perform better in academics as a result.
Institutions of higher learning offer High Impact Practices (HIPs) to provide a platform for students to direct their energy and creativity toward relevant experiences. However, there is a need to integrate more HIP programs that aim to improve students’ sense of belonging. Previously conducted studies on the subject of student engagement and sense of belonging focus less on international students and fail to document their experiences (Wright-Mair, 2020, p. 27). Moreover, the majority of research on foreign scholars does not mention their participation in campus organizations and bases their investigations on academic support and student attrition rates instead. Consequently, this study will focus on establishing a connection between the sense of belonging among foreign students and their engagement in recognized student organizations.
Research Design
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework applied for this research is based on the sense of belonging model and the theory of involvement. These two ideologies will be used in the investigation of the impact of social relations between individuals and how they affect the sense of belonging and improve overall satisfaction. The two approaches were developed from studies on heterogeneous participants, including individuals from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Strayhorn, 2020, p. 94). Consequently, it is appropriate to apply them for this research because they will improve the quality of the results. The theory of involvement is based on a study on student satisfaction which indicated that contentment among 75% of undergraduate students is directly impacted by their level of participation in extra-curricular activities (Strayhorn, 2020, p. 94).
Similarly, a study conducted by Strayhorn, the founder of the sense of belonging framework, indicated that international students experienced poor social bonds due to poor engagement in campus organizations. However, Strayhorn’s research only used a 3% sampling rate for the international students, which makes the results less accurate (Strayhorn, 2020, p. 94). Consequently, this study will improve on Strayhorn’s investigation by focusing entirely on international students. This research hypothesizes that there is an optimistic trend in the sense of belonging of international students in Queen’s University Belfast who actively participate in campus organizations and clubs.
Research Methodology
A qualitative research design will be used to collect data relevant to the participation of international students in official campus organizations and their impacts on their sense of belonging. An electronic survey will be used instead of the traditional approach because the target is a young population and, therefore, can attract higher response rates from the participants. Additionally, it simplifies the process of entering and transferring data into computers and using software to analyze the collected information (Poucher et al., 2019, p. 177). The structure of the survey will focus on all the research questions and objectives. However, data collection will only commence after approval by the respective campus boards. It is also important that since the process of information retrieval will be online, the investigation targets both newly enrolled and continuing international students at Queen’s University Belfast. Willing participants will receive invitation links via mail since it is the safest channel of online communication.
Data Collection
To collect relevant data effectively, the survey will consist of both open and close-ended questions. The targeted information relates to the participant’s demographics, their perception of the sense of belonging and contentment, and the level of engagement in student organizations. The developed demographic queries’ focus is on trends that will be instrumental in the analysis process. Consequently, the collected data will include academic class, country of origin, birth year, gender identity, and suitable housing arrangements. The section of the survey that addresses the sense of belonging will be picked as they are from the used scales and then validated. For accuracy and reliability, the study will employ a previously tested survey and used it, considering it is acceptable to do so during data collection (Tomaszewski, Zarestky, and Gonzalez, 2020, p. 129). To capture data related to the sense of belonging, participants will be given different statements with corresponding responses organized on a scale of one to five and one that ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Participants will be expected to review their undergraduate experiences to identify those that underpin or weaken their emotional, mental, and physical attachments to campus programs. The final part of the survey will focus on the engagement of the students in college clubs and organizations. This section will entail multiple-choice questions and the frequency of the participants’ involvement in student activities. Moreover, there will be two main open-ended questions that ask the reasons why the students avoid campus organizations. This section will help in contextualizing the different levels of involvement identified.
Data Analysis
The implementation of the survey and analysis of the collected data will require support from similar procedures from previously conducted research to help in the structuring and representation of the results. Consequently, in the analysis segment, the study will involve the university’s Office of Information Services (OIS). This will help in organizing the relevant participants’ information in comparison to coinciding data in OIS’s databases. Moreover, the analysis of the survey will be based on the previously outlined research questions and objectives. This stage will further be subdivided according to the sections used during the survey to simplify the process of evaluation. Observational and descriptive techniques will be employed in the analysis of collected data. These techniques will help in the identification of patterns and also expound on the experiences of the participants (Maher et al., 2018, p. 160). The reason for combining the two strategies is because the descriptive approach to data analysis is limited to the summations of the participant.
Consequently, the observational aspect will use the summarized data to make conclusions about the students’ responses. Considering all the information will be collected using a web-based approach, the best tools for data analysis will be SPSS and Excel since they are readily available and are easy to use (Maher et al., 2018, p. 160). Pivotal tables or cross-tabs will be created in the software to help summarize and reorganize the data based on the demographics of the participants and the nature of their responses (Maher et al., 2018). The collaboration with OIS will assist in guiding since they have interacted with researchers with similar projects before. The analyzed data will be represented in tables and graphs, which will then be attached to the final research report.
Potential Limitations and Ethical Issues
Despite all the strategies put in place for the implementation and completion of the research proposals, there are expected limitations and ethical challenges. First, using electronic surveys as the primary method of collecting data might not be effective because participants are at liberty of sharing information of their choice. Consequently, there is a probability that the collected data might be falsified and therefore inaccurate. Moreover, there is no assurance that the response rate will be positive, considering the surveys will be sent online. Traditional physical surveys are better in this context because researchers identify participants and collect information using a face-to-face approach. However, the advantages of a web-based survey outweigh those of the traditional technique, and therefore the response-rate challenge is uncontrollable. The only advantage of the study is that the population of international students is small enough to establish whether the number of respondents is a perfect representation of the group.
Secondly, there is a probability that there will be a response bias from the participants’ end. Participants often give false answers when they are uncomfortable with the questions asked, particularly in self-reports such as surveys. The subject under study is personal because the targeted participants are from various backgrounds and, as a result, demonstrate different temperaments. Asking foreign students why they are not involved in campus clubs and organizations might push them to give inaccurate responses to defend themselves. People will always say they are outgoing even when they do not belong in a group. This is another issue that is beyond the researchers’ control and will depend on the genuineness of the participants. Another limitation of the research design is that it has categorized all international students as a single unit. This approach has the potential of interfering with the quality of the findings because the participants come from diverse backgrounds, and their challenges on the sense of belonging and student involvement might be very different.
Aside from problems related to the research design, there are ethical considerations to be made before proceeding with the study. Since this is a sensitive subject that deals with the participants’ personalities, it might cause emotional harm to the respondents. Most of the students are from minority communities and asking questions about their backgrounds about behavior, might appear offensive. Consequently, it will be necessary to get approval from the concerned board to ensure the survey questions are in line with stipulated guidelines. Furthermore, it will be necessary to first explain to the targeted international students the reasons for the study and ask whether they are willing to participate.
Reference List
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