Chapter 15: At the Crossroads: International Student Exchanges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

An estimated over 5.3 million international students worldwide (UNESCO, 2019) have persevered during the current COVID-19 Pandemic, withstanding outbreaks, lockdowns, border closures and travel disruptions. Despite some student exemptions (OECD, 2020), they have faced administrative hurdles and the loss of learning through face-to-face teaching and on-site practices (Yıldırım, Bostancı, Yıldırım, & Erdoğan, 2021). The Pandemic has forced out most social aspects of the international student life, which is compounded by rising racial divide and geopolitical tensions (e.g., KCL GPRIS, 2021; Pan, 2021). Racial divide refers to the act of using “a fundamental partition in the social ontology” (Mills, 2014) to separate a governing race from the rest. While racial discrimination toward international students during crises is not new (e.g., Ramia, 2021), a “heightened sense of isolation,” anxiety and anger among international students has featured in this Pandemic (e.g., Beckstein, 2020; Rzymski & Nowicki, 2020). Although international student exchanges are often regarded champions of openness, the ambivalence (Ajzen, 2001; Conner, Povey, Sparks, James, & Shepherd, 2003; van Harreveld, Nohlen, & Schneider, 2015) prevalent in this significant student population is alarming, and warrants earnest consideration.