Studying Abroad during a Pandemic: Challenges and Resilience amongst International Students in Aotearoa New Zealand during COVID-19

Abstract

The recent events of COVID-19 had major implications for international student wellbeing in New Zealand. Travel bans, lockdowns, and the movement to online learning created a stressful time for university students during this period. This thesis presents the findings from research on international student wellbeing in New Zealand in 2020, at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Based on 17 in-depth interviews with international students from the University of Auckland, this research employed Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to explore individual, community and institutional factors which shaped the way these students both experienced and responded to the impacts of the pandemic in terms of their well-being and academic success. It found that each participant had their own unique experience during this period. In addition, any challenges that participants faced before the pandemic were made more complex from the impacts of the virus, but also that they drew on a wide range of resources to navigate these challenges. This thesis argues that the various ways each participant experienced and responded to the pandemic were determined by their unique capabilities sets, which were framed by one’s identities, attributes, expectations, needs, and the resources they can access. These factors, in turn, interacted with the University’s response to the pandemic to shape the unique experiences of living through the pandemic for each student. Given its structural role in shaping student capabilities, this thesis asserts that the University must make room to account for the diverse ways international students can experience a pandemic. This thesis concludes by recommending higher education institutions to both centre international student voices while evolving their approaches to developing future pandemic response plans. While contributing to development studies research in the context of the Global North, this research also advances our understanding of the complex experiences and narratives of international students as visa-holders and newcomers to New Zealand during a particular period of crisis.