A study of international students` involvement in university-community engagement activities at IIUM

Abstract

Involvement in university-community engagement (UCE) activities is important for students’ knowledge enrichment because it exposes them to fieldwork. Experiences gained will help students to prepare themselves for future careers and expose them to a holistic view of the community expectations toward university graduates. With direct engagement between students and the community, it encourages students to socialize with the members of the community. However, with the different social and cultural backgrounds of international students within the Malaysian context, this thesis attempts to explain the participation in UCE activities among undergraduate international students of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Thirty undergraduate students participated in this study. Data analysis was performed using the qualitative approach. In general, there is minimal participation of undergraduate students in UCE activities at IIUM. Interestingly, social cultural barriers, particularly language barriers, time constraint, strict adherence to gender roles and the prohibition of mixing among the sexes are amongst the problems that discourage international students from participating in UCE activities. Indeed, UCE has become an important agenda in any university to develop the human capital. The university needs to strengthen its structural environment, thus to make students from various social and cultural backgrounds realize that they have a role to play in the community despite their differences.