International students within British higher education are not always seen in a positive light. They are sometimes thought of in monetary terms, cynically regarded as ‘cash cows’ (Lomer, et al., 2021). Moreover, there is the mindset that this cohort lacks critical thinking skills and are largely passive during classroom lectures due to a variety of reasons, such as language and cultural barriers (Moosavi, 2020). However, such a narrative is quite campus-focused while international students’ learning and development in the host country (that is, the UK) is, and should never be, restrained just to campus. One-year master’s students, in particular, sometimes feel less connected to the beyond-academic context than their undergraduate or postgraduate counterparts due to the shorter stay in the UK.

This suggests that for such students a successful experience within UK higher education is more than just the purely academic side of things, important though this is. There is a desire for some of our international students to feel more included and integrated; but more importantly, to engage and contribute, helping international students to develop and demonstrate their learning and competence, as well as share their voice. However, how often do our international students get to share their cultural knowledge and practices – including within educational contexts – in more embedded ways that go beyond classroom discussion? While there may be a certain reticence among some students to discuss and share their insights, however defined, and defer to their teachers and their classroom content instead, there is definitely scope for our international students to feel more a part of their educational experience – which, again, is not limited to the classroom but reaches out into wider communities (He et al., 2024; Yu & Moskal, 2019).

‘There is a desire for some of our international students to feel more included and integrated; but more importantly, to engage and contribute, helping international students to develop and demonstrate their learning and competence, as well as share their voice.’

As part of a funded project, we have sought to address these issues, allowing our students on MA Education degree programmes to lead on a one-day social responsibility workshop with representatives from Manchester local communities. The workshop reflected the focus of a particular course unit which involves work placement for students to work with local charities, and educational and cultural organisations for a semester. At the workshop, our international students presented talks on their work with the organisations, sharing their own initial challenges of living in a new culture, and how they adapted. Representatives from local organisations, themselves from outside the UK, likewise discussed with the audience of Education staff and students the positive interactions between themselves and our international students. Such discussion helps us better understand students’ engagement with learning and sharing outside the classroom, as well as the organisations’ rationale for hosting our international students.

Relevant themes derived from the talks include:

• opportunities for social engagement
• a sense of inclusivity
• development of real-world English skills (e.g. involving customer service within the organisations)
• learning from, and joint respect for, cultural diversity
• developing job skills in the UK context of work
• addressing global inequalities, as part of the charities’ ethos.

As one student reflected:

‘This volunteering experience has changed my perspective on language learning and intercultural communication. It taught me the importance of being active. The value of [a] supportive environment, and the power of shared experience in bridging cultural gaps. So, I’m really grateful for this opportunity to contribute to this community and for the personal growth I have achieved through this process.’

One of the local community representatives stressed how the talks provided a meaningful social engagement opportunity for both students and the organisation:

‘We wanted to know … how they can contribute to the project … also how we as an organisation can help them develop those skills further.’

This feedback demonstrates an ethos tied to social engagement and cultural respect for diversity, and the takeaways for students afforded the opportunity to be more directly involved with a real-world learning experience outside the classroom, which provides an experience that allows for students to be more proactive in their learning. Such an interactive and hands-on way for students to lead on their learning via contributing real-life practice has allowed our students to feel more integrated within not just their education but, by implication, their time in the UK – which provides a very relevant way of addressing internationalisation of higher education.

In closing, this kind of social engagement opportunity for our international students is important as it allows them to own their educational experience more by means of contributing to their experience as well as enhancing their social responsibility development as a global citizen. As a result, this arguably helps them to feel more valued, connected and engaged. Going forward, then, we as educators might seek out ways for such social engagement beyond the classroom, however defined and regardless of students’ subject area.

Further information about the BeePart project is available here.

References

He, R., Köksal, S., Cockayne, H., & Elliot, D. L. (2024). It’s more than just food: The role of food among Chinese international students’ acculturation experiences in the UK and USA. Food, Culture & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2024.2330180

Lomer, S., Mittelmeier, J., & Carmichael-Murphy, P. (2021). Cash cows or pedagogic partners? Mapping pedagogic practices for and with international students. Society for Research into Higher Education.

Moosavi, L. (2020). Can East Asian students think? Orientalism, critical thinking, and the decolonial project. Education Studies, 10(10), 286. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10100286

Yu, Y., & Moskal, M. (2019). Why do Christian churches, and not universities, facilitate intercultural engagement for Chinese international students? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 68, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2018.10.006