An Exploration of Arab International Students’ Campus Engagement Experiences

Arab international students are considered an integral part of American universities bringing cultural and academic perspectives that enrich campus diversity. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological theory of development, we seek to understand the mutual interactions of ecological factors contributing to Arab international students’ campus engagement and academic success in the United States. We used open-ended questionnaires with 18 Arab students to capture their overall lived experiences and conducted semi-structured interviews with five students to get rich insights into their experiences. The findings of this study have revealed the significant role of global and sociopolitical context in shaping Arab international students’ social and academic engagement, identity, and wellbeing. Implications of this study drive the need for a sociopolitical turn in designing a culturally engaging campus environment and enacting critical pedagogy to support diverse students’ engagement and identity development.