Undergraduate students’ perceptions of learning from foreign-born faculty in American university settings

ABSTRACT

Foreign-born faculty (FBF) comprise between a quarter and a third of the higher education workforce in the U.S. today. As part of a larger mixed methods research project, we examined undergraduate students’ perceptions of FBF prior to and after engaging with them in the classroom. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of undergraduate students (N = 474) enrolled at three public universities in the southeastern U.S. We examined demographic and educational correlates of undergraduate students’ perceptions of FBF, preferences regarding taking courses (preference factor) taught by FBF, and perceived benefits of learning (benefit factor) from FBF. Findings showed that several student characteristics (e.g. being Latinx/Hispanic; being born or raised with one or both parents from overseas; being an upperclassman; being a human-service major; taking at least one course with FBF) were associated with more positive perceptions of FBF and a higher level of perceived benefits of learning from FBF. The findings in this study strongly support the assertion that providing U.S. undergraduate students with more opportunities to learn from FBF in their college classrooms will support those students’ development of positive perceptions of diversity and difference as a key educational outcome.

KEYWORDS:

• Foreign-born faculty
• undergraduate students
• perceptions
• learning
• diversity
• higher education

Disclosure statement

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