Postgraduate University Students’ Experiences and Attitudes Toward Culturally Diverse Learning Environments

Authors

Orhan Sahin, Monash University, AustraliaFollow
Louise Jenkins, Monash UniversityFollow

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the attitudes that Australian domestic university students hold toward cultural diversity on a large, metropolitan university campus. We employed a qualitative approach incorporating five individual semistructured interviews, and a focus group in order to gather data on the participants’ attitudes toward cultural diversity, and the contributing influences on these attitudes. The findings of this study indicate that the participants’ attitudes were impacted significantly by past and present experiences of cultural diversity, and the immersion in a culturally diverse university campus. The research contextualizes how these life experiences are responsible for shaping attitudes toward cultural diversity on university campus and provides an insight into the influence of cultural diversity on Australian university campuses, including how such diversity policies have influenced attitudes. Importantly it discusses how more culturally inclusive learning environments can be created on university campus to accommodate this increasing diversity and how this translates into a more successful learning environment.

Keywords

cultural diversity, university, internationalization, postgraduate student attitudes, culturally diverse learning environments, individual semistructured interviews, focus group

Author Bio(s)

Orhan Sahin is a postgraduate alumnus from Monash University, Australia. He possesses a Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Science, and postgraduate qualifications in educational research. He has experience working as a classroom teacher within the primary and secondary settings. His diverse research interests are in the areas of globalism and demographics, left-right populism and the culture war, fake news and media discourse, political correctness and postmodernism. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed to Orhan.Sahin.Edu@gmail.com.

Dr Louise Jenkins is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Her research focuses on the development of inclusive approaches to education with a particular focus on health and wellbeing for university students. Louise promotes approaches to education which address students’ academic and personal challenges holistically to support overall success. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed to louise.jenkins@monash.edu.

Publication Date

1-4-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4300

Recommended APA Citation

Sahin, O., & Jenkins, L. (2021). Postgraduate University Students’ Experiences and Attitudes Toward Culturally Diverse Learning Environments. The Qualitative Report, 26(1), 69-84. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4300