[csaa-forum] Abstracts due 1 Aug 2020 - Coronavirus and its Impact on International Students

[Catherine Gomes]

RMIT Classification: Trusted

Coronavirus and its Impact on International Students: International Education in the Time of Global Disruptions

A One-Day Conference (10 February 2021)

RMIT University (Melbourne)

Convenors: Catherine Gomes (RMIT) and Helen Forbes-Mewett (Monash University)

**Abstracts due 1 Aug**


The year 2020 will go down in history as the year that got cancelled due to a global pandemic that disrupted global and local systems in an unprecedented and rapid manner. In a relatively short time, the COVID-19 coronavirus became a pandemic with devastating effects on societies, governments and economies world-wide as it challenges the normality of everyday life. Starting out in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus’ lack of discrimination about who and where it infects has had an exceptional impact on international education as destination countries and service providers were some of the early casualties of this evolving health crisis. The result has been almost daily decisions being made about course delivery options with online delivery being the best possible teaching and learning route in the wake of travel bans, self-quarantine and social distancing in order to limit the spread of the virus on destination country populations. International students have been subject to job losses, been unable to pay their rent or buy food for themselves. Meanwhile international students, especially those from China and of East Asian descent have been reporting heightened racism and xenophobia directed their way.

While COVID-19 has become the quickest acting disruptor the world has ever seen, what are the effects of both the pandemic and the decisions made by governments and education stakeholders on international education? How can international education move forward and what can it do to futureproof itself in the event of another global disruptor? How have international students been impacted by institutional, government and community responses to the pandemic? How have international students dealt with these responses? What role has social media played in the way international education and international students are viewed in destination and sender countries? What are the directions and measures international education stakeholders have been taking during the pandemic? What are the directions and measures international education stakeholders should take in order to support international students after the pandemic ends? What lessons are to be learned from the disrupting impact of the pandemic? Is there any fallout from directions and decisions made in response to the pandemic?

While the COVID-19 pandemic is an evolving crisis, it is one that reveals how international education and international students have become ‘disrupted’ in many ways. This conference aims to not only critically examine the impact of a global disruptor on policies, procedures, operations and people around international education but also to open discussion on the direction of future policy and practice in this space. We thus seek papers addressing but not limited to the following issues:

  *   The impact of institutional, government and community responses on international students
  *   The challenges, strategies and resilience of international students in the face of a global health crisis and institutional, government and community responses
  *   The impact of a pandemic on the future of internationalization
  *   Supporting international students during and post-pandemic
  *   The impact of institutional, government and community responses on stakeholder staff and domestic students
  *   The impact of a pandemic on international student employment and employability
  *   Communication in a time of crisis
  *   Racism and xenophobia perceived
  *   Safety and security
  *   Welfare and Wellbeing
  *   The impact of the pandemic on study and non-study aspects of the international student experience
  *   The future directions and measures of international education to support international students


Timeline

Abstracts due: 1 Aug 2020

Decision on abstracts: 30 Aug 2020

Full papers due 1 Feb 2021

There will be an opportunity to submit invited papers for publication as a special issue in Journal of International Students.<https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/index>
<https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/index>

See conference website:
https://impactinternationalstudentscorona.wordpress.com/

Much thanks,
Cat

Assoc. Professor Catherine Gomes
School of Media and Communication
RMIT University
tel: 61-3-9925 5068
Email: catherine.gomes at rmit.edu.au
Staff website<https://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/g/gomes-associate-professor-catherine>

Co-Convenor, Coronavirus and its Impact on International Students<https://impactinternationalstudentscorona.wordpress.com/>
Book Series Editor, Media, Culture and Communication in Migrant Societies (Amsterdam University Press)<https://www.aup.nl/en/series/mcc-in-migrant-societies>
Editor, Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration<https://www.intellectbooks.com/transitions-journal-of-transient-migration>

Latest Publications (journals, book chapters, reports)
Spatio-temporal evolution of Chinese migration in Melbourne, Australia<https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/8JK28NQFJAXHYYUFTEVX/full?target=10.1080/21632324.2020.1748926> New!
‘I wanted to see if you are one of us’: The role of identity in the migration experience, a case study of Latin Americans in Australia<https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/tjtm/2020/00000004/00000001/art00006;jsessionid=57un2ilikku85.x-ic-live-01> New!
Living in a Parallel Society: International Students and their Friendship Circles<https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/article/view/1850> New!
Contact Points: Enabling international students during critical incidents (report)<http://www.isana.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/pressed-quality-spread-v4.pdf>
Transience as Method: A conceptual lens to understanding evolving trends in migration, mobility and diversity, in the transnational space<https://academic.oup.com/migration/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/migration/mnz027/5531249?redirectedFrom=fulltext>
Identity as a strategy for negotiating everyday life in transience: A study of Asian foreign talent in Singapore<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0011392118792929>

Latest books/Journal Special Issues
Digital Experiences of International Students<https://www.routledge.com/Internationalization-in-Higher-Education-Series/book-series/INTHE>  Forthcoming!

Religion, Hypermobility and Digital Media in Global Asia: Faith, Flows and Fellowship<https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463728935/religion-hypermobility-and-digital-media-in-global-asia?fbclid=IwAR07QeBUCBq8maWH7Gsiz9EQTEcAZQ7dYn7o8uDzNlJ8iF3Zl6oFD-RZdoU>Faith, Flows and Fellowship<https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463728935/religion-hypermobility-and-digital-media-in-global-asia?fbclid=IwAR07QeBUCBq8maWH7Gsiz9EQTEcAZQ7dYn7o8uDzNlJ8iF3Zl6oFD-RZdoU> Forthcoming!

Latin American Migrants in Australia<https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/tjtm> New!

See Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=PJUbWr0AAAAJ&hl=en> for complete list of publications


Project website: http://translatingimpermanence.org/

I would like to acknowledge the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. I respectfully acknowledge their Ancestors and Elders, past and present.

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