International students and social connectedness : The role sport can play

Whilst it is well known that international education is a lucrative industry, what is not so well known is how to continue attracting prospective higher education students to Australia in what has become a competitive global market. Adding concern to Australia’s reputation as an international education provider is the recent research which indicated that international students are dissatisfied with their social experiences while in Australia. This research highlights that international students in Australia are not getting the most value out of their educational sojourn, in part, because of their less than engaging experiences with Australians. As a consequence, one of the main challenges faced by Australia’s international education sector is to create and sustain a positive student experience in order to enhance Australia’s reputation as an education provider, be fair to the students and remain competitive in this valuable industry. Developing stronger social connections appears to be an important factor for creating a positive international student experience, and a case can be made to consider the role of sport as a potential strategy for enhancing the international student experience. In particular, sports participation and spectatorship may be possible vectors for enhancing international students’ social connections with Australians because of the opportunity provided for personal interaction. To date, there is a relative lack of research that has investigated this relationship. This Australian-based study aimed to bridge this knowledge gap by focusing on three key areas: (1) to determine whether there was a relationship between sports participation and social connectedness, and if this relationship was influenced by the students’ type and level of sports participation; (2) to determine whether there was a relationship between sport spectatorship and social connectedness, and if the context of sport spectatorship influenced this relationship; and, (3) to determine whether there was a relationship between sport spectatorship and sports participation, particularly from the perspective of international students in Australia. ii The investigation used a mixed methods approach, which combined quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, in a sequential manner. The first phase involved the collection of questionnaire data. Subsequently, these quantitative findings were used to frame the qualitative interview themes and foci. Through this process, greater depth and personal perspectives were added to the initial findings to enrich understanding of various elements of the investigation. Qualitatively the overarching premise as to why a quantitative relationship existed between sports participation and social connectedness (p<0.0001) was that sporting involvement enabled close proximity to the Australian people, who the students perceived to be highly active in sport. The qualitative findings also supported the quantitative finding for the second research sub-question indicating that spectatorship was related to social connectedness (p<0.0001). According to the qualitative results spectatorship was deemed to be one of the best ways for students to connect with Australian people. The students explained this was possible because spectatorship provided them with an easy and relaxed way to connect to people, particularly Australian people and in a casual environment. Three underlying themes explained why spectatorship was perceived to provide this unique environment and connection opportunity. These were (1) spectatorship is a universal and inclusive leisure activity; (2) spectatorship connects people; and (3) Australia has a strong sporting culture. The quantitative results from the third research sub-question revealed a relationship between spectatorship and sports participation (p