How is the internationalization of St. Lawrence College changing the student experience? Tracy CoadyS00175163 Course: Dissertation (MGMT07055) Dissertation Supervisor: Ann Higgins Department of Business Institute of Technology Sligo 30 April 2018 Abstract To achieve its vision of being a globally recognized institution, St. Lawrence College undertook an internationalization campaign which began with substantially increased international recruiting. Partnerships and pathways to international study were developed for St.
Lawrence College graduates and partner schools. Exchange agreements were signed with institutions in Europe and the Caribbean. These growth initiatives created change in a learning environment that had been static and homogenous. This research project was undertaken to create a starting point, to describe the students’ perception of their learning environment prior to an expansion of the internationalization mandate.
To determine where future efforts should be focused, it was necessary to understand the current environment, to identify strengths and weaknesses and to illuminate what had been achieved. To identify the effect internationalization had on the learning environment, studies in internationalization, intercultural skill development and the stresses and benefits of being an international student were reviewed to develop the framework of the research. The focus of the current project was to describe the current environment prior to developing new strategies and initiatives. The method of data generation was an anonymous survey that incorporated quantitative and qualitative questions that could be compared.
The research describes how students perceive their current learning environment, the internationalization initiatives to date and identified areas in which the college could improve. Open ended questions allowed students to share their challenges and desires for a culturally diverse educational experience. Analysis found that while students found internationalization to be a positive influence on their learning environment, there is broad scope for i further work to build relevant intercultural competencies and global perspectives at St. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this project: - The International Education Department at St.
Lawrence College, especially Don Young, Ining Chao and Richard Webster for their support, encouragement and appendices - My project supervisor Ann Higgins for her guidance and her understanding of the disasters that can befall a student - The students at St. Lawrence College for their outstanding response to my request for their participation in my survey at exam time - My family for their encouragement and support - The students of YouTube Academy for support, sanity and utterly relevant gifs iii Table of Contents Abstract. iii Table of Figures. xi Chapter 1 Introduction .1 Introduction to St.2 Internationalization – Incoming and Outgoing .1 Internationalization of St.2 Internationalization of St.
Lawrence College Students: .3 Context of research .4 Questions and Objectives. 10 Chapter 2 Literature Review .2 International Student Experience .3 Domestic Students: Intercultural Skill Development .4 Comparison: International and Domestic Student Experiences .1 Methods of Descriptive Research .3 Quantitative and Qualitative Research .1 Introduction to the Survey .3 Distribution of the Survey .7 Method of Analysis. 28 Chapter 4 Findings & Analysis .2 Overview of Survey .3 Ethnic/Cultural Identity .5 School of Study .6 Year of Study .2 Agree or Disagree Statements.3 Domestic student perception of international student presence.1 Agree or Disagree Statements.2 International Student Support Services .8 Challenges in Cultural Diversity .9 Cultural Experience and Inclusivity. 58 Chapter 5 Conclusions & Recommendations .2 Conclusions and Recommendations .4 Dissemination of Results.
a Appendix A: Survey Introduction Page. a Appendix B: Internationalization Survey. d vii Appendix C: SLC REB approval. m viii Table of Figures Figure 1 SLC International student population by country of origin, Fall 2017 8 Figure 2 Survey Monkey Sample Size Calculator.
22 Figure 3Question 1, Age Categories, Internationalization Survey 2018. 31 Figure 4Enrollment by Age 2012-2016, MAESD. 32 Figure 5Question 2, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 33 Figure 6 International Enrollment by Region, Winter 2018.
33 Figure 7 Question 3 Summary, Internationalization Survey 2018. 34 Figure 8 Question 4, Internationalization Survey 2018. 35 Figure 9 SLC Enrollment by Campus 2012-2016, MAESD. 35 Figure 10 Question 4, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018.
36 Figure 11Question 5, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 37 Figure 12 Question 6, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 38 Figure 13 Question 11, Gender Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 39 Figure 14 Question 11, Age Categories, Internationalization Survey 2018.
40 Figure 15 Question 12, Internationalization Survey 2018. 41 ix Figure 16 Question 13, School of Study Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 43 Figure 17 Question 14, Internationalization Survey 2018. 45 Figure 18 Question 15, Gender Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018.
46 Figure 19 Question 16, Internationalization Survey 2018. 47 Figure 20 Question 17, Gender Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 49 Figure 21 Question 18, Gender Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 49 Figure 22 Question 17, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018.
50 Figure 23 Question 18, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 51 Figure 24 Question 19, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 52 Figure 25 Question 23, Citizenship Filter, Internationalization Survey 2018. 57 Figure 26 Question 23, Age Categories, Internationalization Survey 2018.
58 Tables: Table 1 SLC-Ireland Pathways 6 Table 2 SLC Winter 2018 Semester International Enrolment by Region 8 Table 3 Question 15, Age Categories, Internationalization Survey 2018 47 x Abbreviations IT Institute of Technology (Ireland) MAESD Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education & Skill Development N/A not applicable SLC St. Lawrence College xi Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to St. Lawrence College St. Lawrence College of Applied Arts and Technology (referred to as St.
Lawrence College or SLC) was established by the Province of Ontario to serve the communities of Kingston, Brockville and Cornwall in 1967. One of 24 public colleges in Ontario, SLC is situated in southeastern Ontario along the St. The communities are among the oldest in the province, settled in the early 19th century by English and French immigrants. The population has remained primarily rural and homogenous (Osborne, 2012).
Kingston is the largest of the three SLC communities (metropolitan pop. 161,175) followed by Cornwall (pop. 59,699) and Brockville (pop. By 2016, visible minorities made up only 3-7% of the population of the areas near the SLC campuses.
(Statistics Canada, 2018) SLC offers more than 100 College Diploma (2 years), Advanced College Diploma (3 years), Graduate Certificate (1-2 years) and Honours Bachelors Degree programs (4 years) across three campuses, at affiliate schools in Toronto and Vancouver, and at six partner schools in China. The affiliate schools offer SLC programs delivered by their own faculty; SLC provides curriculum material, quality assurance and credentials to the graduates. Programs delivered at the Chinese partner schools take a 2-year SLC diploma program, add 600 hours of English as a Second Language training, and spread the program over three years; students have the option of completing their final year at SLC in Canada. Lawrence College offers programs in Applied Science, Computing, Business, Community Services, Health Sciences, Justice Studies, Applied Arts (including English as a Second Language), Skilled Trades and Tourism.
SLC also offers apprenticeship training, Continuing Education, distance and online 1 learning (ontariolearn.com), and corporate training programs. SLC has a Sustainable Energy Applied Research Centre (SEARC) providing research services to the renewable energy sector in Eastern Ontario, and a Centre for Behavioural Studies - a resource for Applied Behavioural Analysis research and practice.2 Internationalization – Incoming and Outgoing Two main factors have influenced the St. Lawrence College push towards internationalization: an acknowledgement of the value of intercultural competencies in a global society and the economic advantages of internationalization. Canada has identified itself as a multicultural society since 1971.
In its largest city, more than half the population was born elsewhere before immigrating to Canada. The government recently announced plans to increase immigration numbers over the next three years. (Smith & Katem, 2018) As global markets expand, the need to be aware of and sensitive to the cultural differences of customers, colleagues and competitors becomes more obvious. Canadian students expect to learn the skills they need to be successful in the workplace in their post-secondary experience.
In Ontario, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development under which SLC operates stated that “international education enriches the academic, social and cultural life of our colleges and universities, from classrooms to research laboratories, and creates stronger ties between Ontario and other global jurisdictions.” (Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, 2017, p. 6) 2 One of the elements of St. Lawrence College’s vision statement identifies the need to be “globally connected. Lawrence College, 2014) Based on that value statement and on the current growth in international enrolment, the International Education Department created a new Business Plan that set goals for increasing international enrolment and revenue, for diversifying its recruiting market for international students, and for supporting its international students.
(Young, 2017) The Department was also approved for a Strategic Initiative that “will address 2 multi-year objectives: (1) Student Success: our programs and learning environment must be culturally inclusive for our students to gain global competencies and be equipped to work in a globalized workforce, and (2) Contemporary Educator: our faculty needs to gain skills to internationalize and interculturalize their teaching to ensure student success. 1) As the number of domestic secondary school applicants shrinks, inflation rises, and provincial budgets stagnate (Price Waterhouse Cooper, 2016), SLC expanded domestic recruiting to include adult learners returning to school and corporate training clients. They also set out to recruit more international students. In 2013, SLC had a student population of approximately 7,700 students; only 109 of them were on-campus international students.
Lawrence College, 2013-2014) Annual enrollment climbed to 8,000 students in the 2016-2017 academic year, but more than 1,200 of those students were international students from approximately 40 countries. Lawrence College, 2016-2017) SLC also sought out pathways and articulation agreements for graduates to pursue continued education abroad. These initiatives contribute to St. Lawrence College’s vision of innovative, job-prepared graduates able to differentiate themselves from others in a global market.1 Internationalization of St.
Lawrence College: In a 2016 study commissioned by Colleges Ontario, research firm Price Waterhouse Cooper stated “Between 2008-09 and 2014-15… [there was] an increase in international student enrolment of 258%” in Ontario. (Price Waterhouse Cooper, 2016, p. 2) In the three academic years since 2014, SLC’s international student population grew from just over 100 students (approximately 1.5% of the total student body) to more than 1200 students (almost 11% of the student body) in 2017. According to Don Young, Vice President of International Education at SLC, international enrollment is predicted to reach 1,750 students by 2020, approximately 20% of the student population, which would bring SLC up to the average for international enrollment in Ontario colleges.
SLC’s executive approved the International business plan as part of its overall strategic plan as this expansion addresses both the need to introduce intercultural skills into the student experience and to grow enrollment numbers in the face of diminishing domestic growth. (Young, 2017) International admissions are limited to programs that have seats not occupied by domestic students. SLC policy dictates that priority be given to applicants first from Ontario, then from Canada, and finally to qualified international applicants. Lawrence College, 2018) The most popular areas of study for international students at SLC are Business and Technology.
There is a large interest in Health Sciences, but few seats available to them, as health care programs are often oversubscribed - more domestic applicants than can be accommodated in an academic intake, resulting in waiting lists. As international enrollments grew, the International Education department expanded from a three-person department in 2013 to a department of 12 people in 2017, comprised of International Student Advisors, Recruiters 4 and Admissions Officers; country offices opened in Africa, Brazil, China, Ukraine, Turkey, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, China (North and South) and India to manage applications and enquiries. Specific services for international students’ on-campus include accommodation assistance, airport pickup, new student orientations, employment and tax workshops, and visa assistance (study visas, extensions, co-op/work visas, visitor visas for guests/family members).
