International students' reflective-integrative learning: Variation by geographical regions of origin

Abstract

International students are an important and growing population at colleges and universities in the United States. Although some is known about the behaviors of these students in higher education, more information about how these students engage in reflective-integrative learning activities can help institutions create spaces for these students to thrive both academically and interpersonally. Using a large-scale, multi-institution survey of over three thousand international seniors, this study moves away from the common practice of grouping international students together and begins to disaggregate by exploring senior international students' reflective-integrative learning participation by the students' geographic region of origin. Findings indicate that there are differences in participation in reflective-integrative learning activities among international students from different regions as well as between international and domestic students, with notable differences from Asian students.