‘It’s a lot of homework for me’: post-secondary teachers’ perception of international students and internationalization in Canada

ABSTRACT

While much has been spoken about the benefits and risks of student mobility in large scales, little attention has been given to how professors experience the burgeoning process of internationalization of higher education and how the presence of numerous international students has affected their teaching philosophies and practices. Given the importance of teachers’ beliefs to how they enact their practices, and especially in a country like Canada that takes pride on their multiculturalism policies, it is imperative to understand how professors perceive the cultural diversity they face daily in the classroom. In this phenomenological study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 professors at a Canadian university. Findings reveal how professors not only feel overwhelmed by this transforming scenario but also how their beliefs and experience pose a challenge to the process of internationalization itself.

KEYWORDS:

• Post-secondary teachers
• internationalization of higher education
• professors’ beliefs
• graduate international students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.