The article: The role of student–university value alignment in international student acculturation in Australia
In today’s session we discussed how university values and student values impact each other and what bearing that has on a student’s acculturation into the university community.
Some interesting discussions arose, such as the fact that very few of us actually knew the CSU values, and how the values that we transmit to students most explicitly are more around academic integrity rather than the mission or goal of the institution itself.
Luke mentioned, that as a CSU student he was not aware of CSU values playing a core role in his studies, but all members acknowledged that there is a large emphasis on championing indigenous students and knowledge. These seemed to be less broadly disseminated amongst the Study Centres, which have their own set of Study Group values.
Another point was raised that in fact we do not know the intrinsic values held by the students, nor do we have a firm grasp on their understanding of the values we espouse.
Belinda mentioned that students often understand ‘values’ in the same light as ‘conditions’ in as much as it impacts their VISA and study rights. For example, doing the wrong thing may be seen as a moral trespass but more importantly it can lead to the invalidation of their study rights. She also mentioned that students’ values are often threatened due to the pressures of maintaining a steady income. They may feel pressured to do things that they cannot unequivocally state aligns with their values, but still puts food on their own table, as well as providing for relatives overseas.
This ties in to the perceived transactional nature of education, where students see universities as offering a product that they buy that helps them attain a goal, as opposed to a goal in itself. Education for education’s sake is perhaps a luxury that only those who are financially stable can afford – most of our students do not fall within this category and pursue education as a means to an extrinsic goal – not for self-betterment in itself.
The take-away is that we as staff do not know what students value, and they do not know what the institutions values are either. If students can be engaged in a discussion about where these two meet they may feel a stronger sense of connection to the institution and feel less inclined to see it as a purely transactional engagement.