International student mobility has been increasingly driven by economic rationales. However, the mere presence of international students in US higher education is inadequate to realize the non-economic values of internationalization, such as enhancing intercultural understanding. This dissertation, grounded in a humanistic perspective, examined…

This hermeneutic phenomenological research aims to explore how Jamaican students who extend their studentship beyond four years in a Higher Educational Institution (HEI) experience academic and social integration in Jamaica. The study was guided by three research questions three sociological models and one leadership theory. Astin's (1984),…

This study examined the problems and challenges of social and academic integration in U.S. higher education institutions for Saudi Arabian and Mexican undergraduate international students. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and causal-comparative study was to examine the relationship among a) demographic variables…

First-generation students currently represent the vast majority of the student population in South American higher education institutions (Castillo & Cabezas, 2010; Cuenca, 2015); however, these students also have significantly lower persistence, especially during their first year of studies (Fanelli, 2017). The most relevant theories on…

This study explored the language ideologies of Saudi cosmopolitan parents living in Western countries, their family language policies, and their children's reintegration into Saudi society. I used a qualitative research design to investigate the process of family language policies and practices and the underlying social, cultural, and religious…

There is a dearth of evaluation and research on academic and social integration for college students who are blind and visually impaired (BVI), not only in Saudi Arabia, but around the globe. Failure to integrate students academically and socially at the university could affect the student's self-esteem, self-determination, and sense of belonging,…

This dissertation study examines the acculturation experiences of Saudi Arabian students pursuing higher education in the United States. It investigates the relationships among students' acculturation strategies, self-assertion, and academic self-efficacy, while exploring the moderating effects of English proficiency and length of stay. The study…

Youth houses in Morocco are public institutions that focus on the integration of Moroccan youth in the social and economic fabric of society. The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports made evaluation a pivotal component of its 2030 vision. Yet, it does not involve any mandates for internal evaluations. Given the fierce competition for grants and…

Student retention has been a serious issue for many community colleges globally for several decades. In a community college in Jamaica, persistence rates have been steadily declining within the last several years. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' experiences with the pre-college program that was designed to prepare students…

Resettlement can be an overwhelming experience for refugee families with young children but early care and education (ECE) services have been found to help refugees integrate into their new communities. However, refugee families are less likely to utilize ECE than U.S. born and other immigrant families. Although ECE utilization is low among…

This qualitative exploratory study sought to understand highly educated Iraqi and Syrian refugees' perceptions of their learning experiences during economic integration in Luxembourg. This research sought to elucidate how these new migrants learned to integrate in a country with a long tradition of migration but little exposure to Arabic-speaking…

The scholarship on school privatization and market-oriented reforms has demonstrated the negative effects on segregation and inequity triggered by this model, not only in Chile but globally. Less is known about how to transition toward a democratic-oriented education approach after decades of embedding the values rooted in a competition-based…

The Internet has become indispensable to education throughout the world. Despite the growing importance of the Internet, a gap in digital skills and usage according to socioeconomic status--known as the digital divide or digital learning inequality--exists in many countries. Comparative research has focused mainly on the digital divide among…

One of the goals of various European Union organizations (i.e., Roma and non-Roma nonprofits) is the integration of Roma into the educational system. A challenge for the educational systems in European Union (EU) countries, therefore, is to determine how to support the academic performance of Roma. Understanding the positive and negative factors…

This qualitative research study used Tinto's Theory of Social Integration and Retention to investigate the elements that influence Yemeni students' retention and attrition at U.S. higher education institutions in the Northern California. Eight college students were interviewed and seven stakeholders of the students (i.e., parents, high school…