Journal of International and Comparative Education (JICE)

The Role of English Medium Instruction in the Internationalisation of Japanese Universities: Approaches, Rationales, and Implications

Joe Garner — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0800

In response to the economic pressures of globalisation, the Japanese government has sought to internationalise its universities while at the same time attempting to protect Japan’s culture. To achieve its goals, namely the increase in the number of international students and the development of human resources, it has initiated a number of top-down, quantitative policies which promote the Internationalisation of Higher Education (IoHE) through an increase in the provision of English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses. This paper provides a critical analysis of the government’s approach and how the policies have been implemented by universities. The paper contends that the government’s approach has enabled universities, which do not wish to make substantive changes to their curricula, to peripheralise EMI courses. The consequence of this is that the government’s current approach of promoting EMI to internationalise Japanese universities is unlikely to achieve its goals.

The Rural-Urban Divide in Transitions to Higher Education in Chile

Luis Herskovic, Josefina Silva — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0800

This study uses administrative student data from Chile to explore the transitions of urban and rural students to higher education. We find that urban students are more likely to register to take university entrance exams than rural students. Among those who do take the exams, urban students perform significantly better. Even though both groups of students enroll in higher education in similar proportions, urban students are more likely to enroll in universities, whereas rural students are more likely to enroll in technical education. We also explore differences in major choices for students who enroll in higher education and find that rural students are more likely to enroll in fields related to health, education, and agriculture, while they are less likely to enroll in social sciences or the humanities. Finally, both groups are as likely to choose STEM fields when enrolling in higher education. Our findings suggest that although rural students have similar access to higher education as their urban counterparts, they face different challenges, especially related to standardized tests, which have an impact when choosing which type of higher education institution to enroll in.

Organisational Culture in Indonesian Schools During COVID-19: Perceptions of School Principals

Jenny Ngo — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0800

This study investigates and identifies the organizational culture of Indonesian schools during COVID-19 through the lens of principals. We collected survey data from 93 applications of the OCAI instrument. Our data analysis results show that Indonesian schools’ organizational culture is a unique blend of the four cultural types, with clan and hierarchy culture dominating, followed by adhocracy and, to a lesser extent, market culture. The most commonly ingrained concepts in the culture are job security and internal stability, coordination to ensure the smooth operation of online education, school commitment to innovation in online education, and school management through collaboration and teamwork. Our findings offer insights regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed or changed the organizational culture of schools in Indonesia, which can be used to respond quickly to the Merdeka Belajar (Independent Learning) policy and enhance school performance in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Communities of Practice and Acculturation: How International Students in American Colleges Use Social Media to Manage Homesickness

Michael Schwartz, Kikuko Omori — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0800

Homesickness, a distinctly human phenomenon, is common among college students, domestic or international and is the focus of this research. In this study, we focused on international students in American institutions to better understand the relationship among homesickness, acculturation, and social media use. Through focus group interviews, international students shared their lived experiences of homesickness, use of social media, and acculturation. Four themes (i.e.1. Social media as conflict, 2. Social media as distraction, 3. Social media as frenemy, and 4. Social media as functional) surfaced in the data to describe the relationships among social media use, homesickness, and acculturation. Our participants used social media mainly to communicate with people back home when they felt homesick, yet the use of social media did not help their homesickness. The results are discussed through the lens of communities of practice. The researchers offer practical implications for institutions and people directly involved with international and study-abroad education programs.

Book Review: Critical Pedagogical Narratives of Long-Term Incarcerated Juveniles: Humanizing the Dehumanized

Vicheth Sen — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0800

Critical Pedagogical Narratives of Long-Term Incarcerated Juveniles: Humanizing the Dehumanized. By Gregory Barraza (2022), 142 pages. ISBN: 978-1-66691-294-4. Lanham MD: Lexington Books.