Music higher education institutions are increasingly recognising the educational value of intercultural learning experiences. Delivering such learning experiences in a way that provides music students with a rich cultural and musical learning experience, rather than a superficial one, can be a challenging task, particularly in the case of…

In this article, the idea of the 'colonial signature' is advanced as a potentially pivotal response to triggers that deepen or act as barriers to intercultural learning. From a postcolonial positioning, empirical data is then examined to consider the responses to intercultural-learning triggers of 14 UK-based student teachers on a study visit to…

As globalization increases and the international community moves toward greater interdependence, international learning experiences have become a core educational value for many American universities. Although there are various approaches to study abroad programming, the Semester at Sea (SAS) voyage is an understudied global education program.…

The tenets of Hinduism share a complicated relationship with international higher education for an important reason: the purported taboo over crossing oceans. The ethos of Hinduism, however, is deeply embedded in a posited harmony of individuals and cultures. This makes it a faith that at once embraces the value of intercultural exchange while…

Why do some study abroad students improve their intercultural skills, while others revert to less sophisticated ways of making sense of cultural difference? Both intercultural competence theory and transformative learning theory attempt to explain why student intercultural learning occurs, but they only provide partial answers. Building on our…

For the first time, in 2008, I offered a world religions study abroad course in South India. The special emphasis was meeting and befriending locals, and the centerpiece of the course was a six-night stay in rural homes. I considered this immersion in a Hindu context to be the best setting for learning Hindu thought. However, the environment was…

Language proficiency is highlighted in the literature on the adjustment and security of international students. India is the second top source country for mobile students globally, but few studies have focused explicitly on students from India. The purpose of this study was to examine the English language experiences of Indian students at New…

During an eight month period in 2019 the researchers conducted case study classroom-based observations and pursued conversations with ten study abroad participants from four Fulbright-Hays study abroad programs (India, South Korea, Israel, SeneGambia). Observing, documenting and reflecting on the translation of global to local and local to global…

This study aims to identify the level of acculturative stress and to examine the correlations between acculturative stress or its subcategories and variables such as English language proficiency. The results show that international students were challenged by social interactions, lack of English language proficiency and financial issues. The…

Recent rapid changes in the ethnic and cultural make-up of school communities have highlighted the need for teacher education to prepare teachers for culturally diverse contexts. International study trips provide direct experience and interaction with culturally diverse "others" as a way to extend pre-service teachers' understandings of…

A student shares experiences of her semester-long Tibetan-studies program in India, Nepal, and Tibet. Informed by both home university and program provider that by going abroad and immersing herself in a foreign culture, she would become a "global citizen," she was encouraged to "act like the locals," "be a resident,"…