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Books > Social sciences > Education > Higher & further education > Students / student organizations
The number of international students coming to Japan is on the
rise, and it is important for them to focus on having a productive,
successful academic life in Japan. To this end, this book offers a
great deal of important information. This book was written as a
guide for international students already studying in Japan,
students living outside Japan who are considering studying in
Japan, international student advisors, international student
academic counselors, personnel at universities who advise
international students, and Japanese students who are considering
studying abroad. The wealth of information contained within will be
of use to students in Japanese universities and graduate schools.
The author of this book was born in Sri Lanka and is currently
serving as an assistant professor at Tokyo University of Science.
He spent approximately eleven and a half years as an international
student in Japan. This book is based on his experiences.
In many countries across the world, the demographic compositions of
universities have changed with the increasing numbers of
international students. According to the OECD (2014) in 2012 there
were 4.5 million students studying at universities in countries
other than the ones in which they had been born. It was more than
double the number in 2000. International student mobility is a
result of globalisation and the internationalisation of higher
education. This book reviews these developments as they relate to
Africa. It examines the changing social relations of diversity of
postgraduate South African and international students living
together in residence at the University of Pretoria. It is an
instrumental, qualitative case study based on content analyses of
semi-structured interviews with more than 90 students. There is a
dearth of such studies in African higher education. The academic
literatures have concentrated on educational change at national,
continental and global levels. It is unknown what is happening on
the ground, from the point of view of the daily experiences and
perceptions of local and international students. This research
project draws on community studies to analyse the sociology of
three residences at the University of Pretoria, at which most of
the postgraduate international students live with their South
African peers. The majority of the international students come from
other African countries. This community, across the three sites, is
analysed in relation to the intersectionality of race,
socio-economic class, gender and sexuality and, especially,
nationality. These social relations embedded within the
residence-community constitute a fundamental characteristic of
globalisation: The inter-relationship between the nation state
(nationality) and the international developments (globalisation and
internationalisation) that have undermined the nation states
independence and autonomy. The problem is viewed at the cultural
coalface at one university community, rather than systemically and
structurally from the top. Put another way, students constantly
engage with representations of where they come from and the global
realities they encounter at the university. This is illustrated in
analyses of the intersectionality of diversity relations. The
author shows the range, complexities and specificities of diversity
and its changing social dynamics. It is hoped that such studies can
be compared with others in international education in Africa, the
global South and the developed world.
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