International student (dis)connectedness and identities: Why these matter and the way forward

Abstract

This chapter draws together the main themes of the book. One of the key themes highlighted in several chapters is the dynamics and fluidity embedded in the ways in which international students experience or create connections and disconnections with family, friends, communities, institutions and places in their host and home nations. Another important theme emphasized in this book is the challenge of maintaining and or creating a sense of belonging while being in nationally, socially and culturally unfamiliar surroundings. Through examining international students’ connectedness and disconnectedness, this book also notes the challenges international students face and the strategies they use in order to construct a meaningful lived experience in the transnationally mobile space. In this transnational context, media and communication technologies play an important role in international students’ social life. In many cases, these students draw on media and communication platforms to design translocal spaces for themselves and to continuously recreate the familial home environment in their domestic spaces. It is therefore important for education providers in the host countries and related stakeholders to develop strategies that support international students not only to make use of media and communication platforms productively and to reinforce existing relationships but also to find new points of connectivity during and after their study. These forms of connectedness and networks are essential for international students to navigate everyday life in transience; but also to provide a foundation for their future aspirations and future trajectories.