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The growth in the number of international branch campuses (IBCs) has been one of the most striking developments in the internationalization of higher education in recent years. IBCs are overwhelmingly branches of universities in the developed ‘West’. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia dominate provision. In contrast, IBCs are concentrated in the Middle-East and Asia. The cultural distance between the home and host countries of many IBCs is considerable. This distance poses a major challenge for the successful management of an IBC. Should it localize its curriculum and pedagogy to better meet the learning styles and educational needs of its students or should it provide an educational experience that is comparable to that enjoyed by students on the home campus? This paper takes as its theoretical framework the global integration-local responsiveness (I-R) paradigm. Using an exploratory research design, it finds that the I-R paradigm can be operationalized for IBCs, to predict how faculty, the curriculum and research are likely to be localized in response to pressure from an IBC’s main internal and external stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model capturing the factors impacting students' cross-cultural adaptation and the outcomes resulting from such adaption. Data were obtained from a sample of international postgraduate students from six Malaysian public universities using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling using SmartPLS was utilised to analyse the data. The results indicate that amongst the antecedent variables (i.e. the individual and situational factors); only two relationships are not significantly supported; (a) media usage to psychological adaptation; and (b) attachment attitude to sociocultural adaptation. All the other relationships in the proposed model are significantly supported. The findings of the study further support significant and positive influence of psychological and sociocultural adaptations of international postgraduate students on their perceived psychological well-being and perceived academic satisfaction and ultimately on positive word of mouth in recommending the host country's educational institutions to others. The findings of this study provide insights into the Malaysian higher education policymakers especially those associated with expanding market potential as well as university administrators to manage the changes and accommodate the needs of international students in order to retain and attract more international students. This paper also elaborates the theoretical, empirical, practical and managerial implications of the findings of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural group work (IGW) is a valuable learning strategy to enhance deep learning and prepare university students to participate in a globalized world, so more insight is needed into what motivates students to engage actively in IGW. Using an expectancy–value theory framework, this study investigates the extent to which the different components of this theory (i.e., self-efficacy, perceived benefit, and perceived cost) relate to each other and contribute to student engagement in IGW. Responses to a questionnaire, gathered from 846 bachelor's students from six universities in the Netherlands and Canada, reveal that strong self-efficacy for IGW, high perceived benefit of IGW, and low perceived cost of IGW correlate. In structural equation modeling analyses, self-efficacy and emotional cost emerge as important predictors of behavioral and cognitive engagement; intercultural benefit is critical for cognitive engagement. As a prerequisite of cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement also mediates the effects of self-efficacy, costs, and benefits. Therefore, developing students' self-efficacy, increasing perceived benefits of IGW, and decreasing perceived costs of IGW can promote student engagement and deeper learning. Universities thus should prepare students for IGW and provide support and feedback during group work process. Based on the results, we theorize about the relationships among the components of the expectancy–value theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]