Research Article
Beyond Recruitment: How International Students Navigate Institutional, Financial, and Immigration Regimes in U.S. Higher Education
Alexandria Rose Wiesel-Brown*
Issue:
Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
87-94
Received:
13 April 2026
Accepted:
22 April 2026
Published:
8 May 2026
Abstract: International students are often celebrated as symbols of global engagement and institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. Yet behind these narratives lie restrictive immigration policies, rising tuition, limited employment opportunities, and uneven institutional support that shape students’ educational experiences and future opportunities. This qualitative study examines how former F-1 international students experienced and responded to intersecting institutional, financial, and immigration systems while enrolled at a private performing arts college in the United States. Using a transformative framework and Critical Policy Analysis, the study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 former international students who completed their degrees between 2015 and 2023. Thematic analysis identified key patterns in participants’ narratives about their educational trajectories, financial challenges, institutional interactions, and immigration-related concerns. The findings revealed four major themes: (a) constrained choices and trade-offs shaped by financial and legal pressures, (b) ongoing financial and legal precarity, (c) emotional strain and fractured senses of belonging, and (d) inconsistent institutional support offset by peer-based networks of care. Participants described how visa restrictions, tuition burdens, and unclear institutional processes limited their options, increased their stress, and often made them feel like conditional members of the campus community rather than fully included students. The study challenges dominant narratives of internationalization that emphasize recruitment, diversity, and student mobility while overlooking the structural inequalities that international students face. By highlighting legal violence, conditional inclusion, and epistemic injustice, the findings suggest that institutions must move beyond symbolic commitments to internationalization and instead adopt more equitable policies, coordinated support systems, and inclusive practices that better reflect international students’ realities.
Abstract: International students are often celebrated as symbols of global engagement and institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. Yet behind these narratives lie restrictive immigration policies, rising tuition, limited employment opportunities, and uneven institutional support that shape students’ educational experiences and future opportunities. ...
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Research Article
Aisthetic/Aesthetic Experiences in School Education: Cultivating Discernment in Response to Artificial Intelligence
Martyn Rawson*
Issue:
Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
95-102
Received:
13 April 2026
Accepted:
29 May 2026
Published:
9 June 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijecs.20261103.12
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Abstract: The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) as an educational and informational tool has intensified the need for learners to develop discernment in evaluating the quality, reliability, and meaning of AI-generated knowledge. This paper argues that aisthetic/aesthetic education, understood in its original sense of aisthesis as knowledge grounded in sensory and embodied experience, provides an important foundation for cultivating such discernment. The study develops a theoretical framework that connects aesthetic experience with the formation of judgement and practical wisdom in educational settings. The paper employs a philosophical and historical analysis of aesthetic thought, tracing the concept of aisthesis from Ancient Greek philosophy through German Idealism and Romanticism, particularly the work of Schiller, Goethe, and Herbart, to the educational theories of Dewey and contemporary perspectives such as Ingold’s concept of attentionality. These theoretical perspectives are examined alongside the pedagogical practices of Steiner Waldorf education as an example of how aisthetic/aesthetic experiences can be systematically embedded across the curriculum. The analysis suggests that embodied engagement with materials, artistic processes, and sensory-rich learning experiences cultivates dispositions toward attentiveness, appreciation, and reflective judgement. Such capacities are essential for navigating complex contemporary environments shaped by AI and digital media. The paper concludes that aisthetic/aesthetic education offers a valuable pedagogical approach for fostering discernment, though further empirical research is needed to investigate its long-term educational effects and practical implications.
Abstract: The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) as an educational and informational tool has intensified the need for learners to develop discernment in evaluating the quality, reliability, and meaning of AI-generated knowledge. This paper argues that aisthetic/aesthetic education, understood in its original sense of aisthesis as knowledge groun...
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