Neil Harrison Bristol Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning and Education (BRILLE) University of the West of England 16 th December 2010.

Neil HarrisonBristol Centre for Research in Lifelong

Learning and Education (BRILLE)University of the West of England

16th December 2010

Research contextInternationalisation and student mobilitySeven undergraduate students enter UK for

every one that leavesProportion of international students in UK is

11% - and up to 35% in some universitiesMany UK ‘home’ students entering a new

world of cultural diversity

‘Internationalisation at Home’Wächter (2003); Teekens (2007)Internationalisation offers new opportunities

to students in their own country – not just for those who travel – e.g.Curriculum innovationEnhanced use of ICTDrawing on the experiences of incoming studentsDevelop concepts of global citizenship

However… the realityStudies from UK, US, Australia, New Zealand,

Spain, South Africa & GermanyLow levels of social and academic interaction

between home and international studentsIntercultural interactions cause anxiety and

sense of threat‘Passive xenophobia’ vs. ‘informed

cosmopolitanism’ (Peacock & Harrison 2009)

Research questions1. Why do different students react more

or less positively to cultural diversity at university?

2. Do elements of their early life experiences have an impact?

3. Do generally-accepted personality traits have an impact?

MethodologyQuantitative study based around online

questionnaireThree teaching-intensive universitiesE-mail sent to young second year UK full-time

undergraduates - prize drawBME students removed718 responses (6% response rate)

Key conceptsEthnocentrism: the tendency to have a strong

and inflexible connection to your own culture and/or a belief in its superiority

Cultural intelligence: the skills, attitudes and behaviours that enable a person to interact successfully across cultural boundaries

Measured via revised (shortened and contextualised) inventories

Independent variablesDemographics: gender & social class‘Big Five’ personality traits (McCrae 2009):

extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness & conscientiousness

History of travel: for leisure & to liveEarly life experiences: multicultural

upbringing, foreign language ability & international orientation

Results (1)Good internal reliability for all inventories (all

Cronbach α >= 0.73)Strong and significant negative correlation

between ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence (r = -0.506, p < 0.001)

Correlations between independent variables in line with expectations and wider literature

Results (2)Two linear regression models (5% sig. level)Predictors for cultural intelligence: openness,

agreeableness, multicultural upbringing, language ability & international orientation

Same for ethnocentrism, with addition of gender: men are more ethnocentric

Fair explanatory power (R2 = 0.21 for cultural intelligence and R2 = 0.18 for ethnocentrism)

Openness Agreeableness

Multicultural upbringing

Language ability International

orientation

Ethnocentrism

Cultural intelligence

Intercultural interaction

Gender

Discussion of findingsSome personality traits predictors – perhaps

surprisingly, extraversion and neuroticism notStudents with a multicultural upbringing and

language abilities have in-built advantageNature and role of ‘international orientation’Male tendency to ethnocentrism consistent

with previous studiesTravel abroad and social class not predictors

ConclusionsStudents don’t all arrive at university ‘the

same’ in terms of navigating diversityFindings begin to explain different behaviours

described by previous qualitative studiesPrevailing ‘sink-or-swim’ approach doesn’t

establish a baseline of shared understandingNeed for active management to realise

benefits from ‘internationalisation at home’

References McCrae, R. (2009). The Five-Factor Model of personality: consensus

and controversy. In P. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Peacock, N. & Harrison, N. (2009). “It’s so much easier to go with what’s easy”: ‘mindfulness’ and the discourse between home and international students in the UK. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13, 487-508.

Teekens, H. (Ed.). (2007). Internationalisation at home: ideas and ideals: EAIE occasional paper 20. Amsterdam: EAIE.

Wächter, B. (2003). An introduction: internationalisation at home in context. Journal of Studies in International Education, 7, 5-11.

Neil HarrisonBristol Centre for Research in Lifelong

Learning and Education (BRILLE)University of the West of England

16th December 2010