Category: Previous Project

How can international students achieve their possible and shape their self-identity when they experience housing instability in a foreign country?

Living and studying in a foreign can be a challenge for most international students when they started their journey of studying abroad. Based on the research, students will establish a sense of place whilst in their term-time university location and their bedroom can be a space for them to experiment with possible selves. However, housing instability will impact them. 

There are many room tour videos on YouTube now. A group of people like sharing their lifestyle, decorations, and furniture with others online. People still can get some advice in the videos or comments.

The bedroom can also be the impression management of students.

Interventions

1. Online Event:

Gather international students to share their story of renting, room decorations, furniture.

2. Online Community

Encourage students to decorate their room.

Bibliography

KENT, H., 2018, Jan 13. Home Territory: The idea and meaning of home can change as one. The Age, 8. ISSN 2203580X.

MOLONY, SHEILA L, PHD,R.N., G.N.P.-B.C., 2010. The Meaning of Home: A Qualitative Metasynthesis. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 3(4), pp. 291-307.

ICEF Monitor – Market intelligence for international student recruitment. 2021. Making the link between housing and student wellbeing. [online] Available at: <https://monitor.icef.com/2020/03/making-the-link-between-housing-and-student-wellbeing/> [Accessed 5 May 2021].

Cunningham, CM (ed.) 2012, Social Networking and Impression Management : Self-Presentation in the Digital Age, Lexington Books, Blue Ridge Summit. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [13 May 2021].

Joseph, S 2015, Positive Psychology in Practice : Promoting Human Flourishing in Work, Health, Education, and Everyday Life, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [5 May 2021].

The background of my project is the residential mobility of international students. From my own experience, I have moved 7 times in the last 5 years, and I also asked 5 international students about it. I found they also lived in more than 5 places when they study abroad. The factors that may affect their housing instability are rent, location, flatmate, lease, policy, and holiday. For example, one student said she has a three-month holiday every year and then she will back to China, so she doesn’t want to pay the three-month rent without living there and she will rent a new place after the holiday. I did research on residential mobility at this stage and research shows residential mobility is a double-edged sword. It is important in understanding the self, social relationships, and well-being (Oishi 2010, 5). 

Based on those factors may affect student’s housing instability, the stakeholders of this area can be international students, landlords, student accommodations, real estate agency and university in the UK. They have the power to influence students’ residential mobility. I interviewed a landlord in London who has a 3-bedroom flat to rent. He is busy in his full-time job and he is living far from that flat, so he wants his tenants are stable. Not all his tenants are international students, but he always gives the international students a discount when they back in China on a long-term holiday. As for the student accommodations, they always have a time limitation of the lease based on the academic calendar which can keep resident stability indirectly.

Then I was thinking about what change I want to see. Combined with my personal experience, I think bedroom is the place that will influence my sense of belonging when I live in a foreign country. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, it takes me a few seconds to think about where I am and then I realize this is my bedroom. According to Li and Zhang (2015), modern psychological research shows that the objective environment interacts with subjective perceptions and influences people’s emotions, work and learning efficiency. The physical and cultural environment, such as the overall layout, decorative style, and surroundings of the living environment, is important for the development of students’ mental health. However, most international students don’t have opportunities to decorate their room due to housing instability and it can influence their sense of belonging in a foreign country. I was inspired by the Black Mirror (S1E2 – Fifteen Million Merits), there is a digital bedroom and the screen can be change. Maybe the students can live in different locations but same decoration by using these screens. 

Danjiang, L. and Xin, Z. (2015). ‘Research on the potential effects of bedroom environment on the College Students’ psychology’, Economic Research Guide, p.84.

Dazkir, S., 2018. Place Meaning, Sense of Belonging, and Personalization Among University Students in Turkey. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 46(3), pp.252-266.

Findlay, A., 2010. An Assessment of Supply and Demand-side Theorizations of International Student Mobility. International Migration, 49(2), pp.162-190.

Oishi, S., 2010. The Psychology of Residential Mobility: Implications for the Self, Social Relationships, and Well-Being. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(1), pp.5-21.

Rosenbaum, J., Reynolds, L. and Deluca, S., 2002. How Do Places Matter? The Geography of Opportunity, Self-efficacy and a Look Inside the Black Box of Residential Mobility. Housing Studies, 17(1), pp.71-82.

Change the instability of the housing

Housing instability

As an international student, I have lived at 7 different places in the last 5 years. And my friends who also are international students have similar experiences as me.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, it takes me a few seconds to think about where I am and then I realize this is my bedroom.

Student 1: 7 places, 5 years

Student 2: 5 places, 7 years

Student 3: 5 places, 6 years

Student 4: 8 places, 4 years

Student mobility

• Geographically mobile
• The sense of belonging / feel safe
• The meaning of home