Humanising the internationalisation of higher education: enhancing international students’ wellbeing through the capability approach

ABSTRACT

The international student experience has strategically transformed the internationalisation of higher education globally. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international student wellbeing has decreased. To enhance their wellbeing, we argue international students’ experience should be broadened to include community engagement, thereby increasing core capabilities for, by and with international students. Using Sen’s capability approach as a conceptual framework, we conducted a study in South Australia during the height of the pandemic. Partnering with one local non-for-profit organisation, we asked: ‘How have engagements with the local community affected international students’ capabilities to enhance their wellbeing?’ We offer critical interpretivist perspectives to report on a pilot study of 75 survey responses and 18 in-depth interviews. The findings identify diverse macro-structural forces that form a social context which has marginalised the students. Despite contingent and tenuous social relations and contexts, with support from the community outside the university, some students converted their capabilities to fortify their wellbeing. This study is critical given that the goal of re-strategising internationalisation of higher education begins from the students’ needs through an effective partnership between universities and communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Capability approach
• international student wellbeing
• university
• communities

Introduction

Over recent decades, the global flows of international students have been shaped by the internationalisation of higher education. Since 2000, the number of international students globally has increased to more than six million (UNESCO, 2020). Amongst the three most popular destinations, over a million were studying in the United States; around 510,000 international students in Australia, and approximately 500,000 in the United Kingdom, with these three countries hosting about 35% of the global international student population (UNESCO, 2020). Despite the expansion of international education markets and the greater diversity of student backgrounds (such as ethnicities, ages and languages), and the support programs aimed at accommodating their needs (Marshall et al., 2022), international students continue to encounter many challenges while pursuing their degrees in foreign countries. These include deficit framings of international students as a ‘concern’ (Young, 2017), ‘insecure’ (Sawir et al., 2012), or ‘additional workload for staff’ (Müller, 2015).

In Australia, for example, international students have been identified as experiencing challenges of sociocultural isolation in a new country, financial anxiety, language barriers, adjustments to a new academic system, and high expectations and pressure to perform well academically (Marginson, 2014; Soong, 2016; Tran & Vu, 2018). While they are not a homogeneous group, studies found they were of higher risk of poor mental health than local students, even before the onset of the pandemic (Forbes-Mewett & Sawyer, 2016). For this reason, there is a growing scholarly interest in ‘more holistic sociocultural analyses across micro and macro levels’ in the internationalisation of higher education (Mittelmeier & Yang, 2022, p. 78) that focus on improvement of international students’ mental wellbeing (e.g., Marangell & Baik, 2022). The importance of understanding and addressing their wellbeing intensified during the pandemic when they encountered unanticipated stresses of remote teaching and learning (Marangell & Baik, 2022), work exploitation and incidents of racism targeted at Asian-background students (Kamp et al., 2021). Yet, knowledge on how Australian universities can better support international students’ wellbeing in a post-pandemic context is largely absent.

A considerable body of knowledge in Australia has been built up about international students’ perceptions of their ‘poor’ mental health, and the notion ‘poor mental health’ has been used interchangeably with psychological distress and low social wellbeing (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Additionally, the literature has also focused on the connections between international students’ poor academic performance and their wellbeing, highlighting a range of emotions such as anxiety and depression (Rosenthal et al., 2007). While there is no universal approach to investigating and addressing international students’ wellbeing, there is some evidence that existing understandings of international students’ wellbeing can be advanced by incorporating their voices and experiences (e.g., Baik et al., 2019; Marangell & Baik, 2022). Despite having conducted their studies during the pre-pandemic era, Baik and colleagues have identified from international students’ perspectives the factors that will support their wellbeing within the university environment.

In this article, we too draw heavily on the perspectives of international students as experts in their own experience during the pandemic. We seek to broaden the concept ‘international students’ wellbeing’ through Sen’s (1999) capabilities lens, and explore factors impacting their wellbeing beyond the university environment. Building on the recent work of Baik et al. (2019) and Marangell and Baik (2022), this article contributes to sociocultural analyses of international students’ wellbeing in the field of the internationalisation of higher education in Australia. We define ‘international students’ wellbeing’ as students valuing what they can do and be, and having access to resources and support to achieve ‘freedom to live the kind of life … they have reason to value’ (Robeyns, 2005, p. 95) despite facing unanticipated barriers. In doing so, we assert that international students’ wellbeing cannot be measured nor be understood solely by students’ psycho-emotional state, nor be used interchangeably with ‘positive psychology’ (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Rather, we argue the term ‘wellbeing’ is holistic, contingent and relational.

Such understanding of ‘wellbeing’ hinges on three key points: firstly, how these international students conceptualise wellbeing during a global health pandemic; secondly, why connecting to local communities (outside of university) matters to their wellbeing; and lastly, among the contexts that influence one’s overall wellbeing in a new environment and culture (Gale & Molla, 2015; Lo, 2019), how the lens of the capability approach helps us to better understand how international students convert resources to develop their overall wellbeing.

This article draws on a pilot study in South Australia with one local not-for-profit organisation that provides food to people living in poverty. During the peak of the pandemic community leaders in the organisation witnessed a great number of international students accessing their food services (Soong, 2021). Many of these international students, at the time of the study, had experienced sudden loss of jobs, increased social isolation, academic pressures and anti-Asian sentiment. We first provide a brief overview of the discourses concerning the internationalisation of higher education. We then outline some themes which have emerged from the international students’ wellbeing literature by looking at how wellbeing is linked to their engagement with local communities. We then present some findings arising from a mixed-methods research project analysed using the capabilities approach. Finally, we show how international students’ wellbeing is impacted by diverse social contexts which have either enhanced or weakened their capabilities to fortify their wellbeing, and provide suggestions to assist universities to set priorities that will support international students to navigate the post-pandemic era.

Overview of the dominant discourses shaping the internationalisation of higher education

The field of the internationalisation of higher education has been divided increasingly between economic and humanistic discourses (Lo, 2019). The former exemplifies the significance of international students for the host country’s national income and future employment prospects (Schech et al., 2017). Important considerations in this discourse include qualifications as a form of transnational cultural and symbolic capital associated with studying and living in a Western developed country which can be converted to economic capital over time (Soong, 2016). In such a discourse, the internationalisation of higher education becomes narrowly defined as an end in itself and international students are perceived as commodities (Schech et al., 2017), while they seek to accumulate financial capital for their own futures (Tran, 2020).

From both the critical and sociological approaches, such an economic discourse of international education is problematic because it disregards the humanistic value of the internationalisation of higher education as the means to expand students’ capabilities to become the persons they value (Marginson, 2014; Robeyns, 2005). Such a humanistic discourse reintroduces the concept of higher education as empowering and emancipatory (Tran & Vu, 2018), with an implicit role of developing globalised citizens (Boni & Calabuig, 2017; Lo, 2019; Soong, 2020). This discourse highlights that universities should take responsibility for developing students’ necessary competences ‘to interact, communicate and work effectively outside one’s environment’ (Hunter et al., 2006, p. 277). Lo (2019) too argues for the value of international student mobility on students’ ‘freedom to achieve their functioning set’ (p. 266). This article thereby suggests that the humanistic discourse of the internationalisation of higher education is needed to foster the contemporary wellbeing of our students and their future freedom to enhance their set of capabilities. Yet, such a framework of promoting wellbeing is still underdeveloped in the internationalisation of higher education.

In this regard, by going beyond these two binary discourses and following a critical interpretivist approach, this article argues for the adoption of a capabilities approach (Sen, 1999) to analyse the effects of the internationalisation of higher education on international students’ wellbeing at a time when their livelihoods have been drastically disrupted by the pandemic. Building on Lo’s (2019) analysis of Sen’s (1999) capability framework, we argue for a broadening of Sen’s work to mobilise its concept of promoting individual capabilities (including knowledge, skills and experiences) as a means to provide ‘freedom to achieve’ (meaning being able to work and live in a different culture). In particular, we focus on the role communities play in expanding students’ capabilities to promote their overall wellbeing (or functioning) as a basis to achieve what they value from and through the internationalisation of higher education.

Review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students’ wellbeing

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing body of empirical research indicated that university students (18–25 years old) in Australia are a very high-risk population for mental ill health (Orygen, 2017). Nevertheless, most of the research on Australian university students’ wellbeing so far has focused on what measures universities could take to reduce environmental stressors and promote protective factors in university settings (Baik et al., 2019). Universities became increasingly interested in student wellbeing during and after COVID-19, and not just in Australian higher education; it has now permeated universities’ internationalisation policies and spaces (e.g., Barkham et al., 2019).

While studies on international students’ wellbeing before the pandemic indicated the significance of providing safe accommodation in close proximity to places of study or work and to shops (Ryan et al., 2016), such proximity to services was of heightened importance during the pandemic, when international students were living precariously in major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (Berg & Farbenblum, 2020). Thus, for many international students in Australia, a top-down approach with a quick roll-out of relief funds may not be sufficient to support their wellbeing. Yet, such welfare support to promote their wellbeing has been found to be unevenly distributed in Australia (Berg & Farbenblum, 2020). Furthermore, much is still unknown about international students’ experiences of COVID-19 in a smaller state like South Australia (SA), even though international education was the state’s largest export sector in 2019 (Kennedy, 2019).

Some studies have reported on negative follow-on effects of the pandemic including casual and overt racism against Asian Australians resulting in high psychological stress amongst Asian international students (Kamp et al., 2021; Kassam & Hsu, 2017). A recent national online survey of about 2000 self-identified Asian-Australian participants (aged 16 years and older) showed that 36% of those who experienced racism during COVID-19 felt they were not worth much as a person and experienced higher rates of negative wellbeing than those who had not experienced racism (Kamp et al., 2021). Interestingly, as COVID-19 became prolonged, reports of experiences of racism decreased. This decline could be due to COVID-related restrictions limiting access to public spaces and interactions with people, or an indication of a greater avoidance of Asian Australians and international students (Kamp et al., 2021). Despite this, in this climate of pandemic-induced racism, social isolation, financial hardship and academic challenges, how students speak about their wellbeing in relation to their interactions and engagement with people in local SA communities is largely unknown (Soong, 2020).

Review of international students’ community engagement

Prior research reveals that international students who have developed successful relationships with members of local communities experience greater ease of socio-cultural adjustment (Soong, 2013, 2016), a sense of belonging (Tran & Gomes, 2017), and a wider network of international friends due to shared experiences (Gomes, 2020). While much of the literature on social and mental wellbeing support for international students has focused on the efforts of universities to facilitate student progression through university education and promote their wellbeing (Baik et al., 2019), the onset of the pandemic has given rise to a growing research interest in the provision of support by communities outside of universities (Raaper et al., 2022; Weng et al., 2021).

For instance, although religion was the primary focus of Weng et al.’s (2021) study, it revealed that international students, like migrants in general, were seeking social connections as a coping strategy through ‘same-culture’ networks and communities, including ‘religious groups’ (p. 41), ‘community youth groups’, ‘international student associations’ (p. 49), and ‘digital spaces’ such as online support group meetings via Zoom and WhatsApp (p. 51). Being engaged in local communities contains a further layer of complexity for international students due to systemic racism and discrimination against the cultural and religious ‘other’ (Weng et al., 2021). Despite being left vulnerable and isolated, the group of Chinese, Indian and Russian international student participants in Weng et al.’s study received immense support from ethnic and religious community organisations.

While ‘international students’ wellbeing’ was not the focus of their study, Weng et al. (2021) revealed that international students’ engagement with diaspora religious communities carried them through the discriminatory experiences during the pandemic. By considering social networks and personal connections, Raaper et al. (2022) too highlight the importance of family and friendship interactions in supporting international students’ academic and mental wellbeing. In a sense, international students have not only gained access to resources, but also social networks, mutual respect and a sense of purpose through community engagement.

Such ‘community engagement’, particularly for international students, can be defined by three main characteristics: connection, communion and contribution (Sawir et al., 2012; Soong, 2013; Tran & Gomes, 2017). It covers a broad range of meaning and it can be situated in physical and virtual spaces where people share, interact and connect with each other based on shared interests or needs (Marginson, 2014; Rosenthal et al., 2007). Yet, we know little about how engagement with local communities, including ethnic, religious and welfare groups, supports international student wellbeing. This article aims to fill this gap by seeking answers from international students who have benefited from community engagement by asking: How have engagements with the local community affected their capabilities to enhance their wellbeing during the pandemic? Thus, a new paradigm centred around the concept of wellbeing from a capability approach can offer nuanced insights into how the higher education sector can be reset in post-pandemic times.

The capability approach as a conceptual framework

The internationalisation of higher education is seen in this article as a means to enhance international students’ wellbeing and other capabilities. Sen’s capability approach has been widely used in fields such as public policy (Robeyns, 2005), development studies (Deneulin, 2014), gender studies (Hill, 2003), and education (Gale & Molla, 2015). The capability approach (Sen, 1999) is used in this article as a conceptual framework to analyse and understand the intrinsic role that connecting to communities plays in allowing international students to acquire and expand their set of capabilities to act, do and be what they want. Primarily used as an alternative to conventional utilitarian approaches to measuring human wellbeing, Sen’s capability approach has become a valuable tool for understanding and analysing how social arrangements can foster individual freedom to achieve a valuable ‘functioning set’. As Sen explains:

Functionings are, in a sense, more directly related to living conditions, since they are different aspects of living conditions. Capabilities, in contrast, are notions of freedom, in the positive sense: what real opportunities you have regarding the life you may lead. (1999, p. 36)

In other words, Sen’s (1999) notion of capability highlights two key aspects of freedom as a human right: firstly, people have the agency and capabilities in themselves to pursue what they value; and, secondly, they have a right to opportunities to fulfil their functionings (overall wellbeing). In other words, although the internationalisation of higher education is ‘an enabling conversion factor’ (Gale & Molla, 2015, p. 823) for international students, it cannot guarantee the direct conversion of students’ capabilities into functionings. This relates to Lo’s (2019) point on the relevance of Sen’s approach to the study of international student mobility which can change from one locality to another. First, Lo (2019) has pointed out that the educational opportunities brought about by international student mobility can expand the capabilities of international students. However, due to a changing social context, the extent to which students can convert their capability inputs (means to achieve) into a capability set (freedom to achieve) remains unknown and complex.

Second, situating international student mobility within a wider life context, Lo (2019) identifies three key dimensions of conversion factors: the professional (e.g., field of study), societal (e.g., nationality) and personal (e.g., age and gender). International students differ from each other along these intersecting factors of difference. Professional dimensions stem from the students’ learning and practice environment, including geographical location, amount of space, professional support, modes of communication and transport. Societal dimensions are variables in which the individual student is situated such as university policies, sociocultural norms and power relations associated with one’s race or gender. The personal dimension refers to what is innate to them such as country of birth, age and gender. In line with Walker (2010), we too argue that these conversion factors allow for recognition of the heterogeneity of students and interpersonal variation of social arrangements ‘as a fundamental (not add-on) aspect of educational equality’ (p. 904). An important aspect of international student wellbeing is understanding how international students who have made a complex decision to study overseas, especially during the pandemic period, are able to exercise their freedom and autonomy through their connections to culture, communities and environment.

However, Sen’s approach has been criticised for not acknowledging the role of collective forces in shaping values that underpin people’s choices and aspirations (Deneulin, 2014), and for regarding the selection of capabilities and functionings as value neutral (Dejaeghere, 2020). Some critiques suggest operationalising the capability approach to assess group deprivation or inequalities based on gender, class, ethnicities or geographies (Robeyns, 2006). This article builds on Sen’s position that the capabilities of individual students are significant to transforming resources into valuable functionings (positive wellbeing). Students share similar professional, social and personal challenges, while they remain in varied states of wellbeing. The capability approach also offers a significant lens for exploring how engagements with local communities play a part in their capabilities conversion to improve their wellbeing. Such an approach stresses the importance of individualising human capacities, with a unique profile of conversion factors.

Research methodology and context

Through embracing students’ voices, this pilot study aims to explore how international students’ wellbeing was supported by welfare communities at the time when help from universities was limited. It received approval from the authors’ university’s ethics committee and funding to conduct the study in a non-profit organisation where international students were already accessing food support during the pandemic. In the first stage of this study, 75 onshore international students were recruited to undertake a survey. The student participants attended two of the state’s public universities, one TAFE and one private institution teaching hospitality and English. The survey predominantly asked for demographic information about the student respondents (including age, area of study, institution, nationality and residence) and their current situations (including work, study load, their future plans and what support they need). It also asked whether they wished to further discuss any of the questions posed in the survey with the first author in an interview. The survey found the international student participants are a diverse group in many respects, including age (between 18 and 40 years old, an average age of 27 years old), area of study (accounting, agricultural studies, teacher education, social work, urban planning), nationality (the top five were India, China, Pakistan, Vietnam and Japan), and languages (Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish). Out of the 75 participants, 58 had a previous degree from their home country and 17 were undergraduates. Both groups had either been accessing food services from the non-profit organisation or volunteered to support other international students using similar services.

In the second stage of the study, 18 of the 75 student participants volunteered to be interviewed by the first author. The interviews were conducted by the first author in person in English with most student participants, and in Mandarin with the four Mandarin-speaking students given that the interviewer is bilingual. They were carried out in an office provided by the host non-profit organisation which provided them a safe space to speak to the interviewer, whom they had not met before. Each interview lasted between an hour and 90 min. Questions asked of the participants were generally about how they were coping, and clustered around topics concerning their current study, future aspirations and challenges of livelihood in South Australia. For example: What do you find most challenging about living and studying in Adelaide at this point of time? What has helped you through the difficulties so far? In response to such questions, the participants (see Table 1) spontaneously raised the issue of their mental wellbeing issues.

Table 1. Student participants.

Pseudonyms	Nationalities	Degrees
Puja	India	Master of Social Work
Evan	Malaysia	Bachelor of Accountancy
Irene	Kenya	Master of Social Work
Julianna	Taiwan	Bachelor of Physiotherapy
Susie	China	Master of Social Work
Misuki	Japan	Diploma in English Communication
Kayleigh	Indonesia	Master in Social Work
Jenny	China	Master of Education
Ayesha	India	Master of Social Work
Yasmin	Pakistan/Saudi Arabia	Master of Social Work
Tina	India	Master of Social Work
Pierre	Wallis and Futuna	Bachelor of Information Technology
Selina	Papua New Guinea	Master of International Trade and Development
Seulgi	South Korea	Master of Social Work
Sabitha	India	Master of Social Work
Maneesha	India	Master of Social Work
Maria	Argentina	Master of Global Food and Agricultural Business
Anjali	India	Master of Social Work

The interview participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 36 years, 16 female and two males; and on average, the participants had spent nearly six months in South Australia. At the time of the interview, five participants were employed as casual cleaners and one was employed as a receptionist; one was engaged, and the rest were single. Prior to the interviews, students were given project information, consent forms and the opportunity to ask questions, and they were also informed they had the right to withdraw their participation at any point during the interview. With participants’ consent, interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed by a professional transcribing service. Each transcript was given a pseudonym before it was checked for accuracy against the recordings to ensure the credibility of the data for further data analysis with the second author.

Data analysis

In contrast with the largely survey-based Australian studies of what universities can do to support international students’ mental health and wellbeing (e.g., Marangell & Baik, 2022), this article offers a qualitative view of the phenomenon of ‘international students’ wellbeing’ from their perspectives of how communities (outside of university) shaped their wellbeing. This purposive sub-sample, drawn from the in-depth qualitative interviews with these students, thus enabled us to explore their views and experiences in relation to how engagement with local communities impacts their wellbeing (Merriam, 2009).

Given the exploratory nature of this study was to include student voices, the data were inductively coded (Merriam, 2009). The second author used NVivo to code and analyse the interview data, identify patterns and group them under emerging themes (Braun & Plano Clarke, 2012). The first cycle of coding was conducted for each transcript by giving a short description/code of the content (e.g., friends within diasporic community). The second cycle of coding involved grouping a large number of separate codes into a higher order rank of categories in order to develop an initial structure that related to the research question (e.g., facilitators). The codes were refined by using the function ‘Queries’ to identify the data excerpts for the categories. The categories were then checked for relevance when the two authors met to discuss their analysis to ensure the excerpts were coded and read thoroughly. Based on this data analysis and coding process, we have constructed an exploratory picture, informed by the lens of the capability approach, of how the students gave meaning to the nuances of their wellbeing, shaped by their community connections, during the pandemic (see Table 2). Table 2 provides examples of the broad themes and potential indicators of international student functionings (i.e., overall wellbeing).

Table 2. Descriptions of international student wellbeing indicators.

Themes	Indicators of functionings
University community and connections	Being able to manage workload Feeling part of the cohort in the university community Knowing their tutors and being known by them as individuals
Importance of affiliations, respect and recognition	Understanding family and friends as a source of support and connections Feel respected and show respect to fellow students and members in the local communities Feel recognised and proud to be international students
Standard of living	Having secure finances to cover rent, groceries and other living expenses Adequate housing condition Healthy body and mind to minimise ill health
Socio-emotional belonging for everyday survival	Connections to members of the host culture and community Feeling welcomed and being able to contribute back to community Feeling supported by diasporic communities
Spiritual connections	Being open to faith-based groups in the local community Feeling safe to seek help through connecting with people with shared faith

Findings and discussion

In alignment with the capabilities approach framework (Sen, 1999), this section presents findings from the analyses of international students’ voices in two main sections. First, we discuss the pandemic-induced barriers that reduced the international students’ capabilities to achieve their functioning. These entail three conditions: the university community and connections; importance of affiliations, respect and recognition; and standard of living. Second, we present participants’ experiences of how their functioning was shaped by their engagement with communities (outside of university). These concerned socio-emotional belonging for everyday survival and the significance of spiritual connections as vital for their overall wellbeing.

Pandemic-induced barriers: diminishing international students’ wellbeing

Socio-emotional wellbeing is inherently personal, which explains how the lack of opportunity to connect with fellow students in the university or people outside of university influences an individual’s capability to convert opportunities and resources into valued functionings. The pandemic hindered the conversion of capability inputs (such as past educational and work experiences, close familial affiliations, and financial agency) into functionings (overall wellbeing), as reflected in the following barriers. The spill over effects of these barriers redirected the students’ attention to how they could operationalise their capability inputs to have control over their socio-emotional and physical environment.

University community and connections

The shift from face-to-face university learning to online learning meant different things to different students, with varying degrees of loneliness, academic and cultural detachment, and anxiety:

I just have two friends from my course because of COVID. I couldn’t get [silence] proper uni life. (Maneesha)

I realised that … I lack a lot of softer skills to finish my placement in a limited time period. Because … [without knowing the] communication [skills to work in] the local cultural background, I can’t, I just can’t get in such short time. So it’s very stressful because another thing is I don’t know how to improve this. … Because I just am by myself … I’m not in the community. (Jenny)

With the COVID, it can be quite challenging because sometimes we need to go to laboratory. But [with] restriction we cannot go in the lab and do stuff. (Pierre)

Although not unique to international students, stress over academic performance can impact mental wellbeing (Forbes-Mewett & Sawyer, 2016). Valuing academic excellence may lead international students to spend more time studying and less time on social interaction (Koo et al., 2021), which may intensify any mental health problems. Less research, however, has focused on what real equality of opportunities means for different students in different contexts, in ensuring social and environmental conditions are supportive of individuals’ capabilities to convert their inputs or resources into their functioning. More comparative study is also needed to understand the perceptions of wellbeing of international students who are studying and living in different states. For instance, Kayleigh, an international student from Indonesia, decided to study in South Australia after she graduated from Monash University in Melbourne:

I should probably also tell you that, when I was in Monash, I lived 1 hour away from campus and it was kind of hard to make friends at – in that sense too. So that’s why I guess in Monash it felt a bit more disconnected compared to – excuse me – compared to here. (Kayleigh)

A majority of the participants (70%) mentioned that, because of the sense of isolation they experienced studying in Adelaide during the pandemic, they had higher expectations of their tutors to get to know them as individuals, and also to provide opportunities to interact with each other during the online classes. Opportunities were provided for students to interact in group work activities, but student diversity was rarely used as a resource for learning (Arkoudis et al., 2019). The study found that communities (outside of university) could fill international students’ needs in a way that their classes could not, and they sought support from communities such as religious and diasporic organisations (Weng et al., 2021).

Importance of affiliations, respect and recognition

In line with the capability approach, Nussbaum (2006) has identified ‘affiliation’ as one of the eight key enabling components for converting capabilities into functioning. Affiliation gives meaning to how one can learn to ‘live with and toward others, to recognise and show concern for other human beings’ and have ‘the social bases of self-respect’ (Holland, 2008, p. 423). Over two thirds of the students (65%) spoke about the relational aspects of their emotional ‘affiliation’ to their families as key to sustaining their wellbeing:

Definitely I would say, first thing is loneliness … you came from a foreign country and then you don’t know anyone. (Evan)

Like I told you, the – skin hunger. I felt it when my sister … I really wanted to just hold my family’s hands so bad and sometimes I really want to have a big hug from my boyfriend. But it has been two, almost two years, so I was really missing them. (Seulgi)

… with my friend I have seen how bad her financial situation and … [her family’s] business kind of collapsed because of COVID. (Tina)

In various ways, lacking control over one’s environment due to loss of ‘affiliation’ has not only disrupted their academic rhythm, but has brought about a sharpened sense of loneliness with longing to be with family but also not wanting to worry them. Pressure to excel academically may also come from their families, relatives or friends, especially if they have borrowed money to study overseas (Baik et al., 2019; Soong, 2020). Such pressure may reduce their capacities to fulfil what they value.

Given the loss of ‘affiliation’ to families back home, over a quarter of participants (27%) looked for ‘affiliation substitutes’ amongst their local community (including peers and local people). Yet the pandemic deprived them of the opportunity to be treated with respect despite being placed in a ‘foreign’ social, cultural and physical context. To some, such deprivation has rendered their sense of belonging as shifting and unstable.

I have to help the other twenty persons waiting for me, I have to have this rule of, ‘Sorry sir, today we can only provide a 90 dollar Coles voucher for you.’ Then he’s just so mad at me and [shouted], ‘You Chinese go and blah-blah-blah.’ I have encountered so many [challenges]. (Seulgi)

For Asian (or Chinese-looking) international students, their physical look regardless of their country of origin has become a discursive feature of the pandemic-impacted educational landscape. Pandemic-induced racist experiences have negatively influenced their mental wellness, and further reduced their personal capability to express their feelings, including for Korean students like Seulgi (Koo et al., 2021). In Karaman’s (2022) autoethnographic account on the politics of ‘whiteness’, she too advocates for more stories to be told by international students to connect stories of racism and politics of place.

Over half of the students (60%), such as Seulgi, a female postgraduate student in social work, offered to help out in the community as a way to reciprocate the food donations and groceries at the local community food hub. Consequently, her negative experience may impact her capability to participate effectively in taking charge of her freedom of social and economic participation due to not feeling respected and recognised as a person. Whilst Marangell and Baik (2022) have reported how students’ sense of connection to the university community is linked to their wellbeing, the responses from students in this study provide important insights into the ways they perceive their identity not just as ‘international students’ but also as individuals who want to be respected for who they are and what they can contribute.

Standard of living

Almost all the students (90%) shared their financial woes and anxiety over their livelihoods due to their sudden loss of casual jobs, and lack of financial support from their families and friends in their home country. Many shared concerns about their choice to study in Australia at the expense of their parents’ savings and were anxious if they were not as successful as expected. Not having a casual job, especially during the pandemic when businesses have been struggling to survive, was another factor causing a decline of capability to achieve their positive functioning. This finding resonates with Arkoudis et al.’s (2019) research that found that half of international university students feel distressed over their financial circumstances that are tied to their housing options, which deprive them of essential resources such as internet access, space for study and proper meals.

I know what’s my priority … I suffer financial difficulties, I can eat less. I don’t need to buy anything … Just my living expense … the rent and basic food. (Jenny)

I spend too [little] … grocery. And then in the end I eat very less and then I … lost weight. (Evan)

Although having a casual job during the pandemic was hard to come by for the international students, Evan (who was casually employed) did not have enough to eat and still struggled to pay for his rent. He also felt ashamed to inform his family back home about his new employment as a cleaner. Having a job did not necessarily guarantee positive functioning (i.e., overall wellbeing). Directly related to such experiences, Jung et al. (2021) write of the way affordable housing, and physical proximity to places of study or work or shops are enabling conversion factors from which to transform structural constraints into desired functionings. In many ways, the multiple, diverse deprived contexts became an impetus for the students to find spaces for ‘affiliation’ that allowed them to lead a life they found worthwhile. Knowing how communities can foster capability building is important because it has implications for how the internationalisation of higher education can evolve in the post-COVID era.

Facilitators: enabling international student wellbeing

While the findings above were about the barriers and challenges that international students faced during the pandemic, over half of the students (60%) in this study mentioned that they have made choices to turn visible constraints (including physical hunger and loneliness) into invisible functionings (including self-respect and emotional connections). Such capabilities, we stress, expanded because of the way the students interacted with social-environmental conversion enablers to achieve their various functionings (Robeyns, 2005).

Social-emotional belonging for everyday survival

Similar to students in Forbes-Mewett and Sawyer’s (2016) study, many who came from ‘very restrictive backgrounds’ (p. 668) were confronted with managing everyday tasks (such as cooking their own meals and cleaning) along with organising transport to places, which they found stressful and depressing. All participants reported that their financial hardships negatively impacted their physical, mental and other aspects of wellbeing including social and emotional wellness:

Just go for support when [we] need it, when there is financial support, emotional support and if you’re not sure just try to ask someone else. Yeah … don’t isolate yourself and if you feel real [silence] about something there’s always someone there to help you. (Julianna)

Having a chat with [each other] is really nice and refreshing. Even the staff, a lot of the volunteers who work there are also very friendly. (Tina)

Others who reached out to local Australians became acquainted at churches or other social functions when they first arrived. For instance, Selina, from Papua New Guinea, had developed an acquaintance with two Australian families when they visited her home country. This prior connection eased her transition into the local community, as she explained: ‘but if anything, they’ve made … my stay here a bit more welcoming’. Yet Selina was one of the fortunate few. Community engagement for most of the international students began with online communities with other international students from the same nationality to get support and advice. Seulgi mentioned that was how she knew about the community site during the pandemic.

A small group of the Indian student participants (4 out of the 6) resorted to the Indian diasporic community for support, like Puja. She had support from her roommates, who offered to help her at the start of COVID-19 when she lost her casual job, but she was well aware that they too experienced financial struggles. So, she reached out to the Indian diasporic community where she could access more support, which sustained her for some time:

… the community sent me a $60 Woolworths voucher so that I can get some food during the COVID. And they sent me to an Indian grocery shop where they could give some – I think it was five kilos of rice that [lasted] for six months. (Puja)

In their research on the wellbeing of young people using a capability lens, Andresen et al. (2006) point out the ‘considerable emancipatory energy’ (p. 4) people gain from being constructed as agents with freedom to make valuable choices about what they want to do and to be. One practical conception of such ‘emancipatory energy’ is the support local communities (outside of university) can provide to, for and with international students.

Spiritual connections

Although most students (75%) in our study were not seeking places for spiritual involvement, they found that the people they met through church activities were invaluable in meeting their physical and spiritual wellbeing:

I said I’m a student and I belong to this church back in India. So that’s when that lady told me, ‘Oh, we also go to the same church here.’ [Just two days ago] I thought it was just an insect bite … that’s when they took me to the hospital because [the swelling] was just increasing and not decreasing. So my friend and definitely my church, my fellow church brothers and sisters [helped me a lot]. (Anjali)

Research into the mental health issues of Korean international students during the pandemic has indicated the significance of a spiritual community in allowing them time to reflect, and an outlet for stress and negative emotions (Koo et al., 2021). In studies of how international students develop wellbeing, more focus is needed on the spiritual capability to show concern for others and to connect with a broader world of cultures, ideas and people – a capability which Nussbaum (2006) argues provides ‘the social bases of self-respect’ (p. 392). This study reveals international students’ wellbeing is strongly tied to a number of macro-structural forces, in various contexts and conditions, which can either facilitate or prevent them developing connections to culture and communities. These forces include: the restrictive global health pandemic, university systems, as well as family conditions in the home country. These findings show how emotional and spiritual bonds and connections that international students have developed with other international students and local diasporic networks provide environmental conditions that promote their wellbeing, although they remain contingent and tenuous. Such findings demonstrate the greater importance of the public good of internationalisation of higher education. Despite the overly restrictive university experience and border closures, the international students could develop their personal and social capacities through their socio-emotional and spiritual connections to members of their communities.

Conclusion

This article has explored how international students experienced pandemic-induced challenges, and how the capability approach provides a useful lens for conceptualising international students’ wellbeing through their community engagement. Although the root of their challenges appeared to be the onset of the pandemic, a longstanding issue in the international education sector is that international students are commodified to serve the instrumental paradigm embedded within the internationalisation priorities of the higher education sector. In this setting, ‘value’ for international students is often translated into ‘profit’ for universities, which sets universities up to compete for international students locally and globally. As such, the argument in this article is that the internationalisation of higher education remains a ‘work in progress’ and that universities have yet to prioritise their duty of care to international students.

As Baik et al. (2019) and Marangell and Baik (2022) have identified, most universities already offer a range of programs, activities and resources to support students’ wellbeing, but this study revealed how international students have come to rely on the assistance of each other, and local ethnic and religious communities throughout the pandemic. As Weng et al. (2021) describe, they have ‘actively created, participated in and contributed to the efforts of these organizations to create a sense of connectedness and belonging to Australian society’ (p. 52).

The capability approach offers a conceptual lens through which to show how international students’ connections with local communities and other students outside of university matter to achieving their overall wellbeing. Specifically, our empirical data and conceptual analysis stresses the importance of community connections in converting capability inputs (such as agency, social skills and personal faith), which are fostered by a diverse range of facilitating factors, into choices, opportunities and freedom to flourish as individuals.

In this research, we did not seek to make generalisations but rather provide insights that might have wider implications. Fostering international students’ capabilities, as a collective university and community effort, would require universities to promote human dignity and wellbeing for all. This study provided a nuanced understanding of the macro structural context between international students and the environments in which they are physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually located despite experiencing a loss of community supports in their home country.

The findings suggest that the capability approach can be used to humanise the internationalisation of higher education – which requires a moral and ethical positioning against poverty of choice and freedom, and for the overall wellbeing (or functioning) of all students. Such efforts to humanise universities for the benefit of international students’ wellbeing requires the following considerations. First, at the core of the learning outcomes and wellbeing of international students, universities have to recognise and value the multiple realities of cross-border life as an integral part of their support services. Second, universities should develop a holistic approach to supporting international students’ wellbeing. They can do so by engaging with faith-based or ethnic or non-profit/welfare communities to co-design effective support mechanisms for international students. Third, universities should provide professional development for staff (casual and tenured) to build their capacity to provide tailored support for international students. Staff should be committed to creating a welcoming learning environment and drawing on international students’ experiences as resources for intercultural learning.

The current study was limited as it was derived from a particular non-profit organisation that provided welfare to students at a particular point of time. Future research should include voices of members of the local communities. While qualitative investigation does in some way provide a deeper view of wellbeing among international students, much information could also be obtained from a larger study that explores possible humanising approaches to meeting the evolving needs of international students in the post-pandemic era.

Acknowledgements

We would like to first thank the student participants in this pilot study for their courage to share their stories. We are grateful for the three reviewers who have provided constructive and detailed feedback to strengthen the article.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

We want to thank the funding provided by the UniSA Education Futures Unit for the pilot-study; and, support provided by Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion, University of South Australia (UniSA).