Overlapping Identities of International Students

International students have different overlapping identities. These identities are present at the same time, sometimes complementing, but also sometimes fighting each other. That is the reason why we sometimes fail to integrate them on campus. To do that, we need to understand the identities and the needs that go with them. We can’t just pick one, but need to make sure that all these identities can be expressed on campus.

Four Identities

I would argue that International students have different overlapping campus identities. These identities represent different goals and needs that are present at the same time, sometimes complementing, but also sometimes fighting each other.

I see four identities:

• The Faculty/Staff Identity
• The Tourist Identity
• The Ambassador identity
• The Undergraduate Student Identity

The fact that they are often older than the traditional student on campus and often already have an advanced degree leads to a faculty/staff identity. They are very much like many other people working on campus and me. They already have valuable career experience and want to utilize their expertise to craft new career opportunities.

At the same time, they have an undergraduate student identity. International students are here to pursue individual learning goals, and they are here to be in a challenging and diverse environment where they can grow and learn. Many of them are new on campus, in a new phase in their lives. Often the higher education system works differently than what they are used to, with new procedures and expectations. Therefore have a lot in common with an undergraduate student, coming to campus from high school.

I believe that they also have a tourist identity. The goal is to embrace the American experience. They want to visit places of interest and then brag about it, just like when I travel.

And again, almost diagonal to this is what I would call the Ambassador identity. International students represent a foreign culture and different values and different ways to do things. They are seen as a kind of ambassadors for the home country.

They stand out

I think each International student carries all of these identities within him or herself. I believe because their identities overlap, they don’t fit in any of these four categories completely. They have goals and needs of faculty or staff, as tourists, as ambassadors and as an undergraduate student at the same time. Their overlapping campus identities make them stand out.

I believe that is why we sometimes fail to integrate them on campus, and why we sometimes struggle to engage them. They are a little bit like faculty or staff but not quite. They are a little bit like a tourist, but not quite. They are a little bit like an ambassador for their native culture, but that’s not all. They have many goals and needs that an undergraduate student would have, but they need more than that.

Help them to be seen and heard

I believe that International educators are change agents, and I think that we can improve the campus experience for an adult International Learning. To do that, we need to understand the identities and the needs that go with them. We can’t just pick one, but need to make sure that all these identities can be expressed on campus. International educators need to acknowledge that no student, and no person, for that matter, is just one thing. We all have different identities. We need to find ways that these identities are being heard and help students find a balance between them.

Recommendations

Demographic shifts in International Education (Fong, J. et al., 2016)