A Multidimensional Experience Perspective of Remote Online Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cultural Diversity In Higher Education

Culture is a complex construct and is defined extensively in the literature. According to Hofstede (2011) culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinct different groups of people one from another. However, within each group there may exist subgroups of distinctive conventions and behaviour. Cultural diversity, from another perspective, is featured by differences among individuals of varied backgrounds and ethnicities that are connected homogeneously (Banks, 2015). Cultural diversity has been highlighted as a positive factor and to play a vital role in organisations but the tendency in the literature is to focus on managing cultural diversity in business to drive growth rather than education institutions.

The understanding of the different values and beliefs of individuals and the way of interaction between them is essential for inter-cultural openness (Meer and Modood, 2012). According to Schwarzenthal et al. (2020), cultural diversity entices students to understand the values of other cultures and might help for improving their cross-cultural interaction. At the same time, cultural diversity can entail that crisis developments such as the Covid-19 pandemic are tolerated differently. The study of (Koul and Fisher, 2005) indicated a relationship between the cultural background of students and their differentiated perceptions of their surrounding environment. In relevance to the Covid-19 pandemic, the study of (Morris et al., 2020) revealed that international students were enjoying their stay in another country during the pandemic but they were also experiencing financial difficulties.

Cultural background is advocated by Morera (2019) as an important factor that has a significant influence on students’ views on learning. The cultural contexts of individuals and their educational backgrounds play an essential role, not only in their assignment preferences, but also in their adaptation and performance. The students within international educational institutions possess different learning experiences shaped by their cultural assumptions and expectations.