Assessing Institutional Efforts to Culturally Integrate International Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to find evidence regarding the success of efforts higher education institutions have made to integrate international students generally, and specifically those efforts that foster engagement with domestic students. Institutions were selected for review based on a value-added regression analysis on higher education institutions’ average level of perceived campus support among international undergraduate students using as predictors exogenous factors beyond the institution’s direct control. A set of 12 outlier institutions (six negative and six positive), were identified based on the difference between predicted and actual values of the Supporting Campus Environment indicator from the National Survey for Student Engagement. A blind assessment of campus web pages was then conducted to assess the robustness of international student support programs. A stronger association was discovered between the value-added measure (regression residual) and the web scan ratings (r = .35) than between the predicted level of perceived support and the web scan ratings (r = -.11). This analysis demonstrates that the value-added approach for assessing institutional effectiveness provides a somewhat valid measure of effectiveness, although there was sufficient divergence between the value-added measure, and the qualitative assessment of international student services to warrant further research and careful consideration of using this method to assess institutional effectiveness.