Investigation of interaction levels between local students and international students in Singapore tertiary institutions

Abstract

Singapore tertiary institutions are seeing an influx of international students on exchange and full time international students. Yet, low interaction levels have been observed between international students and local students. This paper will explore the interaction levels and the quality of interaction between local students and international students in tertiary institutions in Singapore explain this phenomenon using (1) Social self-efficacy, (2) Cultural differences, and (3) different learning preferences. While there were no observed differences in the collectivistic/individualistic culture between the 2 groups of students, there were differences in learning preferences and local students had lower social self-efficacy, which are possible causes for the low interaction levels. There was a mismatch of perception of international students’ learning preferences between local students and international students. With a few possible reasons for low interactions identified, the institutions in Singapore can play a part in increasing and improving local-international student interaction.