Internationalizing International Students’ Experiences: Analysis of Intercultural Dispositions for International Students who Engage in Study Abroad and Internationalization at Home

Abstract

Internationalization of the curriculum has become a prevalent pattern around the world. Using the data of 115,655 domestic students and 7,165 international students from 16 U.S. universities, this study examined the association between the two types of internationalization of the curriculum (on-campus international academic experiences and study abroad from a U.S. host institution to another country) and intercultural dispositions among international students. This study also compared the potential effects of internationalization of the curriculum on international students with domestic students, who have been a primary target of internationalization of the U.S. universities’ curriculum. While on-campus international experiences were positively associated with several intercultural dispositions among international students, study abroad was not. In addition, the association between on-campus international experiences and intercultural dispositions showed little variation between domestic and international students. This result implies that international students are also beneficiaries, rather than mere resources, of internationalization of the U.S. university’ curriculum.