Challenges home and international students face in group work at a Dutch university

ABSTRACT

This study aims to provide insights into the challenges that home and international students experience when collaborating in mixed groups. A selection of 261 reflective journals written by students as part of the Intercultural Communication Skills course at a Dutch university in the domains of life sciences and engineering was analyzed. These journals were written by 210 Dutch ( =  home) students, 22 European (non-Dutch) students, and 29 Asian students. The quantitative analysis showed that the main challenges were group management, contribution to group work, and feedback. Asian students reported challenges related to feedback significantly more often compared to Dutch and other European students. The qualitative analysis showed that Dutch, other European, and Asian students’ concerns differed in terms of interaction and communication styles stemming from their various cultures of learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Multicultural student group work
• collaboration
• engineering education
• higher education
• international students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vitaliy Popov

Vitaliy Popov, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA. His major research interests lie in the area of simulation-based education, perception and processing of feedback in interprofessional and multicultural teams, multimodal learning analytics in the context of co-located and virtually distributed teams in clinical simulations.

Dine Brinkman

Dine Brinkman is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Education and Learning Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Her major research interests are in the areas of intercultural commutation, international students, intercultural competence development.

Karen P. J. Fortuin

Karen P. J. Fortuin, PhD, is senior lecturer at the Environmental Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Her main research interests include (i) intercultural and interdisciplinary education in environmental science and environmental systems analysis, and (ii) the application of environmental systems analysis methodologies and approaches in an urban context.

Rico Lie

Rico Lie, PhD, is and Assistant Professor at the Research Group Knowledge, Technology and Innovation, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. His research interests include communication science, development sociology, education, social anthropology, and social change.

Yaoran Li

Yaoran Li, PhD, is the director of research and development at the Jacobs Institute for Innovation in education, University of San Diego, San Diego, U.S.A. She is interested in leveraging data and empirical evidence to understand and model complex learning processes, such as mathematical learning and social-emotional learning.