2023: International Students from Asia in Canadian Universities

International Students from Asia in Canadian Universities: Institutional Challenges at the Intersection of Internationalization, Racialization and Inclusion (Open Access)

Edited by Ann Kim, Elizabeth Buckner, Jean Michel Montsion
Copyright 2024

  This book explores how the recruitment and retention of Asian international students in Canadian universities intersects with other institutional priorities. Responding to the growing need for new insights and perspectives on the institutional mechanisms adopted by Canadian universities to support Asian international students in their academic and social integration to university life, it crucially examines the challenges at the intersection of two institutional priorities: internationalization and anti-racism. This is especially important for the Asian international student group, who are known to experience invisible forms of discrimination and differential treatment in Canadian post-secondary education institutions. The authors present new conceptualisations and theoretical perspectives on topics including international students’ experiences and understandings of race and racism, comparisons with domestic students and/or non-Asian students, institutional discourse and narratives on Asian international students, comparison with other university priorities, cross-national comparisons, best practices, and recent developments linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Foregrounding the institutional strategies of Canadian universities, as opposed to student experience exclusively, this direct examination of institutional responses and initiatives draws out similarities and differences across the country, compares them within the broader array of university priorities, and ultimately offers the opportunity for Canadian universities to learn from each other in improving the integration of Asian international students and others to their student body. It will appeal to teacher-scholars, researchers and educators with interested in higher education, international education and race and ethnic studies.

Introduction: International Students from Asia and Canadian Universities: Institutional History and Trends
Ann H. Kim, Elizabeth Buckner and Jean Michel Montsion

SECTION 1: Institutional Contexts: A Critical View

1. The Ruling Relations of the Internationalizing Canadian University
Kumari Beck

2. International Students and Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity (EDI) in Canadian Universities: A Critical Look
Tania Das Gupta and Bianca Gomez

3. For Students, Look East; For Partners, Look West: How Canadian Internationalization Strategies Portray Asia and Europe
Elizabeth Buckner, Janine Knight-Grofe and Cynthia Eden

4. Framing International Students from Asia in Ontario Universities: Provincial Priorities, Deficit-focused Services and Economic Benefits
Jean Michel Montsion and Daniela Caneo

5. International Education Pipeline: An Analysis of British Columbia’s University Transfer System
Elic Chan and Brett Matsushita

SECTION 2: Inclusion and Exclusion in Universities

6. Assessments of universities by international students from Asia: Institutional resources, adjustment, inclusion and safety
Ann H. Kim, Firrisaa Abdulkarim and Melissa Payne

7. Between Intellectual Gateway and Intellectual Periphery: Chinese International Student Experiences
Min-Jung Kwak, Lucia Lo, Guanglong Pang and Yun Wang

8. Understanding Chinese Students’ Manifold Transitions in a Canadian University
Eustacia Yu

9. Voices from Chinese International Students on Resources Offered by Montreal Universities: Pathways towards Equity and Social Justice
Roberta de Oliveira Soares, Marie-Odile Magnan, Yifan Liu and Fabiola Melo Araneda

10. Asian international students studying in Canada: A review of barriers to the learning experience by revisioning of Astin’s I-E-O Model
Guanglong Pang and Brandon R. G. Smith

11. Pushed to the Periphery: Understanding the Multiple Forms of Exclusion Experienced by Asian International Students
Vander Tavares

SECTION 3: Anti-Asian Racism and the Politics of Race

12. Asian International Students at the University of Toronto: How Diversity Discourses Downplay Student Demographics
Elizabeth Buckner, Eun Gi Kim and Fotini Vlahos

13. An East Coast Racial Reckoning: International Students and the Politics of Race at Dalhousie University
Ajay Parasram, Madison Gateman, Amaan Kazmi

14. Asian international Students in a mid-sized Canadian University: A Case study of the University of Manitoba
Yazhi Luo and Lori Wilkinson

15. Neo-racism, Neo-nationalism and the Recruitment of International Students to Canada in the Era of the Pandemic
You Zhang, Shangcao Yuan and Phoebe Kang

16. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the racial experiences of international university students from Korea in Canada and the US
Ann H. Kim, Angie Chung, Mihyon Jeon, Thomas Klassen, Min-Jung Kwak, Hyunjung Shin and Patricia Trudel

Conclusion: Building on Success from the Bottom-up? Institutional Challenges, Racialized Experiences, and Opportunities for Further Research
Jean Michel Montsion, Ann H. Kim, Elizabeth Buckner

Biography

Ann H. Kim is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at York University, and Faculty Associate of the York Centre for Asian Research, Canada.

Elizabeth Buckner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Jean Michel Montsion is Associate Professor in the Canadian Studies Program at Glendon College, York University, Canada. He is also Director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.