THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGAGEMENT AND PERCEIVED ACADEMIC, PERSONAL, AND SOCIAL OUTCOMES FOR SENIOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which five engagement benchmarks that encompass educationally purposeful activities namely: (i) level of academic challenge , (ii) active and collaborative learning ,(iii) student-faculty interaction , (iv) enriching educational experiences and (v) supportive campus environment predict various dimensions of self- reported or perceived academic, personal, and social development/ growth for senior international students at Research Universities. The benchmarks were regressed against the following self-reported outcomes: i) acquiring a broad general education, acquiring job or work-related knowledge and skills, thinking critically and analytically, working effectively with others learning effectively on your own, and understanding yourself. Results indicated that for this sub-population, a supportive campus environment and the level of academic challenge were the best predictors of the self- assessed outcomes. Students had lower means in the student-faculty interaction and enriching educational experiences indicating less engagement in these benchmarks. On average, students reported gaining more in thinking critically and analytically and acquiring a broad and general education, although their average gains were still lower compared to the grand mean for the overall NSSE 2005 sample.