International student wellbeing and everyday community engagement experiences: an Australian study

Among Western destination countries, Australia has been highly successful in attracting international students. The wellbeing of these students is a critical issue for Australian universities and wider communities. Yet, little is known about international students' perspectives on the relationship between their wellbeing and everyday engagement experiences with domestic students and staff on campus, and members of the local communities. This paper draws on findings from a mixed-methods study, including an online survey of 1372 international students across multiple Australian tertiary institutions and focus group interviews with 16 international students. The paper explores how participants' everyday community engagement experiences play a crucial role in shaping their wellbeing. Using Blumer's symbolic interactionism as an analytical framework, the study found international students' wellbeing was grounded in their engagements with domestic staff and students on campus, mediated by language use in the broader community, and bifurcated with limiting and liberating community engagement experiences in everyday contexts. Our analysis underscores the importance of addressing international students' wellbeing relationally, within and across multiple everyday contexts - on or off campus, physical or virtual, linguistic or cultural.