Fostering intercultural interactions and outcomes for domestic graduate students through internationalization-at-home efforts

Abstract

This study examined the impacts of internationalization-at-home efforts on intercultural interactions and outcomes for domestic graduate students through a Cultural Partner Program. Ninety-seven participants were recruited from a public research university in the southeastern part of the U.S. Among them, 68 participated in an experimental group in which each of them was paired up with an incoming graduate-level international student to conduct intercultural activities over one semester. All participants took pre- and post-test surveys including psychosocial measures such as wellbeing, intercultural competency, stress, and perceived support. The regression analyses found a significant conditional difference between experimental and control groups in well-being but not other variables. Standardized mean difference analyses revealed improvements present between the experimental group and control group in perceived support and interaction attentiveness and stress. University campuses need to allocate greater lengths of time and resources for graduate students to be a part of intercultural interactions on campus throughout their study.