Adriana Perez Encinas - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Adriana Perez Encinas

The internationalisation of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon that has been deeply studi... more The internationalisation of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon that has been deeply studied for the past few decades in the context of the globalisation of the societies and the role of higher education in that process. The focus of this Doctoral Thesis is on the internationalisation of higher education on the European Union countries and specifically on the formal and informal support services provided for international students by universities, with a view to studying the needs that international students might have when they go abroad. Thus, the main research objective of the dissertation is to identify international students’ needs when they go abroad in relation to service provision, to identify the stakeholders involved in this process and to analyse students’ satisfaction with their stay abroad. Universities offer a wide range of support services to satisfy the needs of students. However, the provision of services to international students in particular has not been deeply analysed in relation to the points of view of all implied stakeholders. This dissertation comprises a reflection on support services that universities provide for international students by dividing them into three types and by offering an inventory of these services. As such, this Doctoral Thesis fills a gap in the knowledge by providing integrated findings through (1) international students’ needs from the point of view of staff members, international students and student volunteers; (2) the role of student associations in providing integration on campus; and (3) the provision of services and their relation to international students’ satisfaction. It is relevant to understand how services work internally in European universities and compare them with other international contexts. A mixed-method design was used for the analysis of the data by using an inductive approach. Three research methodologies and sets of data were used. First of all, probabilistic topic modelling algorithms were used, with data coming from a large database from the platform STeXX owned by the company Studyportals (containing more than 73,000 reviews) on which international students expressed their opinion of their stay abroad in relation to a series of services. Secondly, statistical analyses were conducted in order to analyse quantitative data from international students who have been abroad and replied to the ESNsurvey 2016 questionnaire on The International-friendliness of universities. The survey team selected a set of variables in relation to which international students disclosed the major problem areas with host university support services. Thirdly, focus groups were assembled to collect the perceptions of the three main stakeholder groups identified within two higher education institutions, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan, Italy) in relation to service provision and international students’ experiences: staff members, student associations’ volunteers and international students. The results are presented over two chapters, together with an explanation of the data used and a short introduction to the method used in each case. The first one covers International Students’ Experience, in particular the services required and needs that international students have when they go abroad, while simultaneously comparing them for different levels of study (bachelor and master), and type of mobility (credit and degree mobility). The second one comprises the results relating to Perceptions of service provision and satisfaction with stay abroad, in particular the role of student associations in the provision of services for international students and general findings on international students’ satisfaction with the most needed services. This study concludes with a set of recommendations on formal and informal support services that universities can offer and a new model of the International Student Lifecycle. Finally, the results are presented in a condensed format together with limitations and recommendations for further research.

6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20), 2020

Students participating in mobility experiences have a great learning opportunity, but in many cas... more Students participating in mobility experiences have a great learning opportunity, but in many cases they hardly realise about the soft-competences they developed during mobility. In this context, the supporting role of universities is key for students to make the most of their mobility and be able to communicate their learning outcomes. This study analyses the support services that students receive for the development and acknolwledgement of mobility soft comptencies (related with the three dimensiones: knowledge, skills and attitudes or KSAs) in order to define the university strategy in this field. Results show two types of support for outgoing and incoming students: (i) passive initiatives based on delivering relevant information for the mobility period to students; and (ii) active initiatives based on training activities and activities for student integration in the host university/city/culture. No support initiatives on mobility related KSAs for returned students or academic st...

Studies in Higher Education

Subjects concerning entrepreneurship are at the heart of European Union concerns. With growing in... more Subjects concerning entrepreneurship are at the heart of European Union concerns. With growing international student mobility for decades now, many higher education institutions (HEIs) face a more diverse student body. The change of mobility patterns means that students\\u2019 professional future is not necessarily anymore in their home country. At the same time higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to \\u2018guarantee\\u2019 the employability and a successful access to labor markets of their graduates. One of the challenges for HEIs, is to deliver a comprehensive education, to develop their graduates\\u2019 employability relevant skills and support them with structures that ease either their integration in the national and the international labor markets. Entrepreneurship is as an engine for economic growth for young and senior people to create new business opportunities and corresponding jobs while increasing markets\\u2019 competitiveness and innovation. Some hig...

Providing high quality education and student experience is critical to attracting and retaining s... more Providing high quality education and student experience is critical to attracting and retaining students in an increasingly competitive environment. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are under growing pressure to \u2018guarantee\u2019 their graduates\u2019 employability and successful access to the labour market. On the other hand, with the increase of international student mobility in the past few decades, a new student profile has emerged, which includes broader professional perspectives in geographical terms. One of the challenges for HEIs is, therefore, to develop their graduates\u2019 relevant skills and support them with structures that ease their integration into the local, national or international labour market.The aim of this paper is to outline both the current context and status of the internationalisation of European career services and the main challenges faced in this process. An exploratory single case analysis is used to identify how the formation of internationa...

Studies in Higher Education

The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions, 2020

The 3rd International Electronic Conference on Environmental Research and Public Health—Public Health Issues in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2021

Resumen: En este trabajo se propone un modelo global que permita impulsar la implementacion de Co... more Resumen: En este trabajo se propone un modelo global que permita impulsar la implementacion de Comunidades de Practica (CoPs) y Redes de Practica (NoPs) como instrumentos para mejorar el aprendizaje activo en las universidades. Se trata de disenar un modelo en que los profesores puedan agruparse en redes locales de docentes (CoPs), insertas estas a su vez en redes nacionales o internacionales, en las que la figura de expertos en diferentes metodologias activas resulta crucial. Todo ello, con el objetivo de superar los problemas y limitaciones derivados de la aplicacion aislada y no uniforme de metodologias activas que, en terminos generales, realizan los docentes de las universidades espanolas. Los beneficios de crear y consolidar estas estructuras son multiples, tanto para profesores, estudiantes, como para la propia institucion. Ello ha de repercutir de forma indudable en una mejor formacion del capital humano y social, al combinar conocimiento, el dominio de este conocimiento y l...

Studies in Higher Education, 2020

Journal of Studies in International Education, 2017

International Higher Education, 2015

Encuentros Multidisciplinares, 2014

El ejercicio del derecho a la educacion y de su acceso libre y universal es fundamental para la c... more El ejercicio del derecho a la educacion y de su acceso libre y universal es fundamental para la calidad de vida de las personas por la gran importancia que tiene desde la parte mas elemental hasta la educacion superior. La educacion es decisiva para la toma de decisiones economicas y sociales, para evitar la exclusion social y el analfabetismo y para mejorar las oportunidades laborales, entre otros. Numerosos estudios muestran que no se cumple el derecho a la educacion en muchos paises en vias de desarrollo. Sin embargo, los nuevos cursos abiertos en linea masivos (MOOCs), que estan en consonancia directa con el derecho a la educacion, reconocido en el articulo 26 de la Declaracion Universal de Derechos Humanos podrian ser una ayuda valiosa para superar el escollo. Asi, se ofrece la posibilidad de estudiar de una forma mas amplia y accesible, a las personas de los paises en vias de desarrollo. Una de las ultimas acciones que se han realizado a este respecto, es el acuerdo firmado entre el World Bank Group y Coursera para abrir un campus en donde las nuevas tecnologias se mezclen con las tecnicas de ensenanza mas tradicionales y asi hacer de la educacion un derecho para todos.

Global and Local Internationalization, 2016

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management

Today’s lifespan of companies tends to be low in the so-called micro-, small-, and medium-sized e... more Today’s lifespan of companies tends to be low in the so-called micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Organizational life cycle (OLC) theory indicates that organizational aging is related, but not determined, by the firm chronological age or its size. Therefore, a firm’s aging should be analyzed by other factors such as flexibility. The literature considers flexibility as an essential capability, a source of competitive advantage, and an enabler of long-term growth for MSMEs. However, little attention in emerging economies has been paid to examine the nuances of this concept in relation to the OLC in this type of companies. Additionally, studies tend to analyze flexibility as a general term, ignoring that it is a polymorphic concept. That is why there is a need to research the different categories of flexibility. Drawing on a quantitative approach conducting a factor analysis, a two-step cluster, and decision tree analysis to interrogate data from 257 MSMEs in Mexico,...

Journal of International Students, 2019

Updated research is required on the geographies of the cultural issues that shape international s... more Updated research is required on the geographies of the cultural issues that shape international students’ experiences. The growing number of students traveling to different countries implies a need to cater to cultures and values from different parts of the world. Apart from cultural and geographical aspects, there is scarce knowledge about similarities between students’ experiences abroad that takes into account their countries of origin (and, to some extent, their cultures) within those mobility flows. Using a probabilistic topic model on 59,662 international student reports from 167 countries on their mobility experiences, we examine links between the students’ experiences and their countries of origin. The results show that the geographical features of the reports are connected not only to cultural issues, but also to other factors that might affect their international experience.

Sustainability

International mobility programmes embed higher education (HE) students in a learning process in w... more International mobility programmes embed higher education (HE) students in a learning process in which they gain key knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), some of them crucial in pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We propose an innovative theoretical framework that links such KSAs to the UNESCO’s Key Competences for Sustainability and specific SDGs. Moreover, we analysed which KSAs are addressed by institutional initiatives to support mobility students, exposing their contribution to the SDGs. Finally, we revised mobile students’ needs of institutional support on KSA’s acquisition through focus groups. Results show that the KSAs most addressed by the institutional initiatives are related to several SDGs, but mainly to SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Notwithstanding, additional institutional support may be needed for students to leverage their learning outcomes and transform international mobility into a key driver of the necessa...

Students participating in mobility experiences need to constantly adapt to new circumstances, not... more Students participating in mobility experiences need to constantly adapt to new circumstances, not only during the experience itself, but also before leaving and after returning to their home country. They change their lifestyle, get acquainted with other cultural forms and, in some cases, they even change habits and attitudes to adapt to the new host culture. In this scenario, the different sources of support for students are of great added-value, e.g. family, friends, classmates, as well as the receiving institution – higher education institutions (HEIs) in our case. The supporting role of HEIs in the process of sending students abroad could go beyond the administrative dimension of it. A way of doing that is by offering a provision of support services on the acknowledgment and maximisation of their learning process and acquired competences (understood as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes – see Boyatzis, 1982; or Council of Europe, 2018) gained during their adaptatio...

The internationalisation of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon that has been deeply studi... more The internationalisation of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon that has been deeply studied for the past few decades in the context of the globalisation of the societies and the role of higher education in that process. The focus of this Doctoral Thesis is on the internationalisation of higher education on the European Union countries and specifically on the formal and informal support services provided for international students by universities, with a view to studying the needs that international students might have when they go abroad. Thus, the main research objective of the dissertation is to identify international students’ needs when they go abroad in relation to service provision, to identify the stakeholders involved in this process and to analyse students’ satisfaction with their stay abroad. Universities offer a wide range of support services to satisfy the needs of students. However, the provision of services to international students in particular has not been deeply analysed in relation to the points of view of all implied stakeholders. This dissertation comprises a reflection on support services that universities provide for international students by dividing them into three types and by offering an inventory of these services. As such, this Doctoral Thesis fills a gap in the knowledge by providing integrated findings through (1) international students’ needs from the point of view of staff members, international students and student volunteers; (2) the role of student associations in providing integration on campus; and (3) the provision of services and their relation to international students’ satisfaction. It is relevant to understand how services work internally in European universities and compare them with other international contexts. A mixed-method design was used for the analysis of the data by using an inductive approach. Three research methodologies and sets of data were used. First of all, probabilistic topic modelling algorithms were used, with data coming from a large database from the platform STeXX owned by the company Studyportals (containing more than 73,000 reviews) on which international students expressed their opinion of their stay abroad in relation to a series of services. Secondly, statistical analyses were conducted in order to analyse quantitative data from international students who have been abroad and replied to the ESNsurvey 2016 questionnaire on The International-friendliness of universities. The survey team selected a set of variables in relation to which international students disclosed the major problem areas with host university support services. Thirdly, focus groups were assembled to collect the perceptions of the three main stakeholder groups identified within two higher education institutions, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan, Italy) in relation to service provision and international students’ experiences: staff members, student associations’ volunteers and international students. The results are presented over two chapters, together with an explanation of the data used and a short introduction to the method used in each case. The first one covers International Students’ Experience, in particular the services required and needs that international students have when they go abroad, while simultaneously comparing them for different levels of study (bachelor and master), and type of mobility (credit and degree mobility). The second one comprises the results relating to Perceptions of service provision and satisfaction with stay abroad, in particular the role of student associations in the provision of services for international students and general findings on international students’ satisfaction with the most needed services. This study concludes with a set of recommendations on formal and informal support services that universities can offer and a new model of the International Student Lifecycle. Finally, the results are presented in a condensed format together with limitations and recommendations for further research.

6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20), 2020

Students participating in mobility experiences have a great learning opportunity, but in many cas... more Students participating in mobility experiences have a great learning opportunity, but in many cases they hardly realise about the soft-competences they developed during mobility. In this context, the supporting role of universities is key for students to make the most of their mobility and be able to communicate their learning outcomes. This study analyses the support services that students receive for the development and acknolwledgement of mobility soft comptencies (related with the three dimensiones: knowledge, skills and attitudes or KSAs) in order to define the university strategy in this field. Results show two types of support for outgoing and incoming students: (i) passive initiatives based on delivering relevant information for the mobility period to students; and (ii) active initiatives based on training activities and activities for student integration in the host university/city/culture. No support initiatives on mobility related KSAs for returned students or academic st...

Studies in Higher Education

Subjects concerning entrepreneurship are at the heart of European Union concerns. With growing in... more Subjects concerning entrepreneurship are at the heart of European Union concerns. With growing international student mobility for decades now, many higher education institutions (HEIs) face a more diverse student body. The change of mobility patterns means that students\\u2019 professional future is not necessarily anymore in their home country. At the same time higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to \\u2018guarantee\\u2019 the employability and a successful access to labor markets of their graduates. One of the challenges for HEIs, is to deliver a comprehensive education, to develop their graduates\\u2019 employability relevant skills and support them with structures that ease either their integration in the national and the international labor markets. Entrepreneurship is as an engine for economic growth for young and senior people to create new business opportunities and corresponding jobs while increasing markets\\u2019 competitiveness and innovation. Some hig...

Providing high quality education and student experience is critical to attracting and retaining s... more Providing high quality education and student experience is critical to attracting and retaining students in an increasingly competitive environment. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are under growing pressure to \u2018guarantee\u2019 their graduates\u2019 employability and successful access to the labour market. On the other hand, with the increase of international student mobility in the past few decades, a new student profile has emerged, which includes broader professional perspectives in geographical terms. One of the challenges for HEIs is, therefore, to develop their graduates\u2019 relevant skills and support them with structures that ease their integration into the local, national or international labour market.The aim of this paper is to outline both the current context and status of the internationalisation of European career services and the main challenges faced in this process. An exploratory single case analysis is used to identify how the formation of internationa...

Studies in Higher Education

The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions, 2020

The 3rd International Electronic Conference on Environmental Research and Public Health—Public Health Issues in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2021

Resumen: En este trabajo se propone un modelo global que permita impulsar la implementacion de Co... more Resumen: En este trabajo se propone un modelo global que permita impulsar la implementacion de Comunidades de Practica (CoPs) y Redes de Practica (NoPs) como instrumentos para mejorar el aprendizaje activo en las universidades. Se trata de disenar un modelo en que los profesores puedan agruparse en redes locales de docentes (CoPs), insertas estas a su vez en redes nacionales o internacionales, en las que la figura de expertos en diferentes metodologias activas resulta crucial. Todo ello, con el objetivo de superar los problemas y limitaciones derivados de la aplicacion aislada y no uniforme de metodologias activas que, en terminos generales, realizan los docentes de las universidades espanolas. Los beneficios de crear y consolidar estas estructuras son multiples, tanto para profesores, estudiantes, como para la propia institucion. Ello ha de repercutir de forma indudable en una mejor formacion del capital humano y social, al combinar conocimiento, el dominio de este conocimiento y l...

Studies in Higher Education, 2020

Journal of Studies in International Education, 2017

International Higher Education, 2015

Encuentros Multidisciplinares, 2014

El ejercicio del derecho a la educacion y de su acceso libre y universal es fundamental para la c... more El ejercicio del derecho a la educacion y de su acceso libre y universal es fundamental para la calidad de vida de las personas por la gran importancia que tiene desde la parte mas elemental hasta la educacion superior. La educacion es decisiva para la toma de decisiones economicas y sociales, para evitar la exclusion social y el analfabetismo y para mejorar las oportunidades laborales, entre otros. Numerosos estudios muestran que no se cumple el derecho a la educacion en muchos paises en vias de desarrollo. Sin embargo, los nuevos cursos abiertos en linea masivos (MOOCs), que estan en consonancia directa con el derecho a la educacion, reconocido en el articulo 26 de la Declaracion Universal de Derechos Humanos podrian ser una ayuda valiosa para superar el escollo. Asi, se ofrece la posibilidad de estudiar de una forma mas amplia y accesible, a las personas de los paises en vias de desarrollo. Una de las ultimas acciones que se han realizado a este respecto, es el acuerdo firmado entre el World Bank Group y Coursera para abrir un campus en donde las nuevas tecnologias se mezclen con las tecnicas de ensenanza mas tradicionales y asi hacer de la educacion un derecho para todos.

Global and Local Internationalization, 2016

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management

Today’s lifespan of companies tends to be low in the so-called micro-, small-, and medium-sized e... more Today’s lifespan of companies tends to be low in the so-called micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Organizational life cycle (OLC) theory indicates that organizational aging is related, but not determined, by the firm chronological age or its size. Therefore, a firm’s aging should be analyzed by other factors such as flexibility. The literature considers flexibility as an essential capability, a source of competitive advantage, and an enabler of long-term growth for MSMEs. However, little attention in emerging economies has been paid to examine the nuances of this concept in relation to the OLC in this type of companies. Additionally, studies tend to analyze flexibility as a general term, ignoring that it is a polymorphic concept. That is why there is a need to research the different categories of flexibility. Drawing on a quantitative approach conducting a factor analysis, a two-step cluster, and decision tree analysis to interrogate data from 257 MSMEs in Mexico,...

Journal of International Students, 2019

Updated research is required on the geographies of the cultural issues that shape international s... more Updated research is required on the geographies of the cultural issues that shape international students’ experiences. The growing number of students traveling to different countries implies a need to cater to cultures and values from different parts of the world. Apart from cultural and geographical aspects, there is scarce knowledge about similarities between students’ experiences abroad that takes into account their countries of origin (and, to some extent, their cultures) within those mobility flows. Using a probabilistic topic model on 59,662 international student reports from 167 countries on their mobility experiences, we examine links between the students’ experiences and their countries of origin. The results show that the geographical features of the reports are connected not only to cultural issues, but also to other factors that might affect their international experience.

Sustainability

International mobility programmes embed higher education (HE) students in a learning process in w... more International mobility programmes embed higher education (HE) students in a learning process in which they gain key knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), some of them crucial in pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We propose an innovative theoretical framework that links such KSAs to the UNESCO’s Key Competences for Sustainability and specific SDGs. Moreover, we analysed which KSAs are addressed by institutional initiatives to support mobility students, exposing their contribution to the SDGs. Finally, we revised mobile students’ needs of institutional support on KSA’s acquisition through focus groups. Results show that the KSAs most addressed by the institutional initiatives are related to several SDGs, but mainly to SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Notwithstanding, additional institutional support may be needed for students to leverage their learning outcomes and transform international mobility into a key driver of the necessa...

Students participating in mobility experiences need to constantly adapt to new circumstances, not... more Students participating in mobility experiences need to constantly adapt to new circumstances, not only during the experience itself, but also before leaving and after returning to their home country. They change their lifestyle, get acquainted with other cultural forms and, in some cases, they even change habits and attitudes to adapt to the new host culture. In this scenario, the different sources of support for students are of great added-value, e.g. family, friends, classmates, as well as the receiving institution – higher education institutions (HEIs) in our case. The supporting role of HEIs in the process of sending students abroad could go beyond the administrative dimension of it. A way of doing that is by offering a provision of support services on the acknowledgment and maximisation of their learning process and acquired competences (understood as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes – see Boyatzis, 1982; or Council of Europe, 2018) gained during their adaptatio...

The growing numbers of mobile students over the years made the provision of student services a ke... more The growing numbers of mobile students over the years made the provision of student services a key topic of interest for higher education institutions. In order to offer a better experience for international students, it is important to be aware of and assess their needs in relation to different sets of support services. The data used in this paper were gathered through the ESNsurvey 2016 project, a research venture focused on the experiences of participants in short-term student mobility in Europe. Responses were collected from 12,365 international students, who have participated in a short-term (3-12 months) study period abroad mostly through Europe's most promoted mobility program called ERASMUS+. For the purpose of this paper, the focus was only on the aspect of host university support services. The comments of 2,012 students about their experiences were analyzed using a probabilistic methodology known as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The