The challenges of welcoming international students on university campuses: Diversity, exclusion, inclusion and cosmopolitanism

Abstract

This article is the product of an evidence-based management approach whereby management actions and people-related decisions are informed and enriched by drawing on the results of academic research. Given the general increase in the number of foreign students at French campuses (for reasons set out in the first section), it appears crucial for us to consider the issues that scholarly literature raises with regard to the management of cultural diversity in classrooms as well as on campus in general, on matters of integration and inclusion especially in light of cultural diversity brought by foreign students. As we consider the new challenges presented by these changes, we seek to outline, in the second section, a number of possible avenues of reflection and solutions set out in research findings, bearing in mind the observations and problems raised above. These efforts to improve conditions for supporting the orientation and integration of foreign students could enable our campuses to make a real commitment toward becoming more cosmopolitan. As campuses become meeting places offering constant opportunities for exchange among cultures and communities, based on a full respect for otherness, they could also act as important bulwarks against exclusion and discrimination.