Differences, Not Deficits: the Civil Digital Infrastructure Impact on International Students’ Experience

Two phases of Jisc’s international student digital experience research describe the impact of cultural and digital shock and the importance of considering international students’ prior digital experience when supporting their transition into UK higher education teaching and learning. A key finding from the second report (November 2023) was that prior home country digital experience has a significant impact on international student expectations in relation to how they access and use digital technologies during their studies abroad. In the same month, the Portulans Institute and Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) released the latest annual Network Readiness Index (NRI) report in which 134 countries were compared across four dimensions of digital readiness: technology, governance, people, and impact. The index uses 58 different indicators to feed into a country’s overall global ranking. Jisc and the Portulans Institute have united to provide digital country profiles that summarize international student feedback on their digital experiences alongside civil digital infrastructure metrics using NRI indicators. This first set of digital country profiles focuses on four countries that are key contributors to the UK international student population: Nigeria, India, Pakistan and China. In this session, you will learn how the civil digital infrastructure of home country impacts the experience of students who make digital border crossings to undertake a higher education.