Emotional scarcity and well-being among international students at times of crisis in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

While international students are a desirable student constituency globally as they also bring skills, knowledge, and a diverse cultural composition to the university, the higher education landscape has become complex. This complexity is associated with access, teaching and learning experiences, and throughput and is caused by the interaction of social, economic, environmental, personal, and political vulnerabilities. Although all students in South Africa experience vulnerabilities, international students face other forms of exclusion, limiting their ability to manoeuvre. To understand better the complex environments and experiences of international students in South Africa, the chapter proposes four approaches: capability advancement (students overlook internal conflicts); capability stagnation (external forces such as xenophobia obstruct students’ efforts); capability absence (students lack the confidence to act and external factors have adverse effects); and capability ignorance (fear of being victimised, which leads to students not taking advantage of available opportunities). The chapter concludes by emphasising international students’ vulnerability as a threat to a growing international student community based on this fourfold formulation.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032661780-8

Repository URI

https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/365140/