Abstracts
Abstract
This article focuses on the academic perseverance of Permanent Resident University Students (PRUS) in the three post-secondary institutions that make up Campus Montréal (University of Montreal, HEC Montreal, and Polytechnique Montreal). Returning to school is often framed as a way for new immigrants to update their education and level the playing field in order for them to gain access to the same labor market opportunities as those who are born in the host society. We present the results of a study carried out with 426 respondents of an online survey and 44 participants of group interviews with recent PRUS in Montreal. Using the concepts of acculturation process and (mis)trust, this qualitative inductive analysis highlights the main constraints experienced by the respondents, which is reflected in their social representations of the integration process and their decision to return to university. In this context, and given the apparent inequalities in terms of intergroup relations, returning to university might in fact be detrimental to their stated goal of rapid and successful integration into the host society, particularly the labor market. Consequently, in a migratory context, the return to university might, in fact, have a demoralizing effect since the experience foreshadows the barriers, systemic or otherwise, that these professionals may encounter in their efforts to enter the labor market.
Keywords:
- academic and professional integration,
- acculturation,
- intergroup relations,
- trust,
- social representations
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank gratefully the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) for providing the funding for the research and Shereef Elshafei et Marilena Liguori for their contributions to the translation and revision of this article.
Bibliography
- Adangnikou, N. (2008). Peut-on parler de recherche en pédagogie universitaire, aujourd’hui, en France?. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 34(3), 601-621.
- Alava, S. and Langevin, L. (Eds.). (2001). L’université, un espace d’innovation pédagogique?. Revue des sciences de l’éducation, 27(2), 243-474.
- Arcand, S., Lenoir-Achdjian, A. and Helly, D. (2009). Insertion professionnelle d'immigrants récents et réseaux sociaux: le cas de Maghrébins à Montréal et Sherbrooke. Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, 34(2), 373-402.
- Ashwin, P. (2009). Analysing Teaching-Learning Interactions in Higher Education. London, NY: Continuum.
- Asselin, C. (2014). Transformation des représentations sociales et de l'éducation des étudiants allophones, résidents permanents et citoyens canadiens, à l'Université Laval en mode présenciel, et à la TÉLUQ en e-learning : vers la concrétisation du projet d'insertion socio-professionnelle "fort" (Doctoral thesis, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada). Retrieved from http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/7155/.
- Béchard, J.-P. (2008). Fondements épistémologiques des auteurs clés de la pédagogie de l’enseignement supérieur: une analyse de trois revues 1976-2003. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 34(3), 537-568.
- Berry, J.W. (2008). Acculturation et adaptation des jeunes immigrants. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, 6(2), 56-59.
- Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living Successfully in Two Cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(6), 697-712.
- Berry, J.W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation, Applied Psychology, 46(1), 5-34.
- Berry J.W. & Kim, U. (1989). Acculturation attitudes in plural societies. Applied Psychology, 38(2), 185 - 206.
- Berry, J. W., Phinney, J. S., Sam, D. L. and Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation. Applied psychology, 55(3), 303-332.
- Blackstone, A. (2012). Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods (v. 1.0). Nyack, NY: Flat World Knowledge.
- Boudarbat, B. and Cousineau, J.-M. (2010). Un emploi correspondant à ses attentes personnelles? Le cas des nouveaux immigrants au Québec. Journal of International Migration and Integration/Revue de l'intégration et de la migration internationale, 11(2), 155-172.
- Boudon, R. (Ed.). (1992). Traité de sociologie. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
- Boudon, R. (1988). Individualisme ou holisme : un débat méthodologique fondamental. In H. Mendras and M. Verrat (Eds.), Les champs de la sociologie française (p. 31-45). Paris: Armand Colin.
- Bouteyre, E. (2008). Résilience scolaire : De la maternelle à l'université. Paris: Belin.
- Burnard, P., Gill, P., Stewart, K. Treasure, E. and Chadwick B. (2008). Analysing and presenting qualitative data. British Dental Journal, 204(8), 429-432.
- Chatel-DeRepentigny, J., Montmarquette, C. and Vaillancourt, F. (2011). Les étudiants internationaux au Québec : état des lieux, impacts économiques et politiques publiques (2011s-71). Retrieved from Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en analyse des organisations [CIRANO] website: http://www.cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2011s-71.pdf
- Chiadli, A., Jebbah, H. and De Ketele, J.-M. (2010). L’analyse des besoins en formation pédagogique des enseignants du supérieur au Maroc : comparaison de plusieurs dispositifs. Revue des sciences de l’éducation, 36(1), 45-67.
- Chicha, M.-T. and Charest, É. (2010). Les programmes d’accès à l’égalité dans les entreprises du secteur privé au Québec : un statu quo décevant. Nos diverses cites, 7, 65-70.
- Chicha, M.-T. (2009). Le mirage de l’égalité : les immigrées hautement qualifiées à Montréal. Toronto: Fondation canadienne des relations raciales.
- Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Downey, S. N., van derWerffiL, L., Kecia M. T. and Plaut, V. C. (2015). The role of diversity practices and inclusion in promoting trust and employee engagement, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45, 35-44.
- Duchesne, C. (2010). À propos de l’accompagnement avant et pendant les stages d’étudiants immigrants inscrits à un programme de formation à l’enseignement. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 36(1), 95-115.
- Duclos, V. (2011). L’intégration universitaire et sociale d’étudiants tunisiens et marocains inscrits dans une université francophone canadienne. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 41(3), 101.
- Dumouchel, P. (2005). Trust as an Action, Archives of European Sociology, XLVI(3), 417-428.
- Durkheim, E. (1895/1964). The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: Free Press.
- Duveen, G. (2007). Culture and social representations. In J. Valsiner and A. Rosa (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Sociocultural Psychology (p. 543-559). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Duveen, G. (2008). Social actors and social groups: A return to heterogeneity in social psychology. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 38(4), 369-374.
- Duveen, G. and Lloyd, B. (1990). Introduction. In G. Duveen and B. Lloyd (Eds.), Social Representations and the Development of Knowledge (pp. 1-10). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Granovetter, M. (1973). The strenght of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.
- Gray, J., Galton, M., McLaughlin, C., Clarke, B. and Symonds, J. (2011). The supportive school wellbeing and the young adolescent. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Grayson, J.P. (2001). The performance of ‘gifted’ high school students in university. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education/La revue canadienne d'enseignement supérieur, 31(1), 121-140.
- Harrison, N. and Peacock, N. (2010). Cultural distance, mindfulness and passive xenophobia: using Integrated Threat Theory to explore home higher education students' perspectives on 'internationalisation at home'. British Educational Research Journal, 36(6), 877-902.
- Hung, H. L. and Hyun, E. (2010). East Asian international graduate students’ epistemological experiences in an American University. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34(4), 340-353.
- Kanouté, F. (2002). Profils d’acculturation d’élèves issus de l’immigration récente à Montréal. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 28(1), 171-190.
- Kanouté, F. and Vatz Laaroussi, M. (Eds). (2008). Relations écoles-familles de minorités ethnoculturelles. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 34(2).
- Kenworthy, J. B., Voci, A., Al Ramiah, A., Tausch, N., Hughes, J, and Hewstone, M. (2016). Building Trust in a Postconflict Society: An Integrative Model of Cross-group Friendship and Intergroup Emotions, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 60(6) 1041-1070.
- Loiola, F. A. and Romainville, M. (2008). La recherche sur la pédagogie de l’enseignement supérieur. Où en sommes-nous? Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 34(3), 529-535.
- Luhmann, N. (1979). Trust and Power: Two works by Niklas Luhmann. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- Markova, I. (2010). Gerard Duveen on the epistemology of social representations. Papers on Social Representations, 19, 4.1-4.9.
- Moscovici, P. (1961). La psychanalyse, son image, son public. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
- Miles, M. B. and Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Extended Source Book. London: Sage Publication.
- Möllering, G. (2006). Trust: Reason, Routine, Reflexivity. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- Nooteboom, B. (2002). Trust: forms, foundations, functions, failures and figures. Cheltenham, PA: Edward Elgar.
- Owens, J. and Massey, D. S. (2011). Stereotype threat and college academic performance: A latent variables approach. Social Science Research, 40(1), 150-166.
- Rateau, P., Moliner, P., Guimelli, C. and Abric, J. C. (2011). Social Representation Theory. In P.A.M Lang, A.M. Kryglanski and E. Tory Higgins (Eds), Handbook of Social Psychology (p. 480-497). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Rege Colet, N. (2008, May). Revalorisation de la formation doctorale: impact des programmes doctoraux sur le développement professionnel. Paper presented at the 25th congress of AIPU, Montpellier, France.
- Sauvé, L., Debeurme, G. Martel, V., Wright, A., Hanca, G., Fournier, J. and Castonguay, M. (2007). L’abandon et la persévérance aux études postsecondaires. Rapport final. Québec : Télé-université et Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC).
- Simmons, S. J., Wittig, M. A. and Grant, S. K. (2010). A mutual acculturation model of multicultural campus climate and acceptance of diversity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(4), 468-475.
- Taylor-Powell, E. & Renner, M. (2003). Analyzing Qualitative Data. Program Development and Evaluation. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension, G-3658-12.
- Valentine, K., Prentice, M., Torres, M. F. and Arellano, E. (2012). The importance of student cross-racial interactions as part of college education: Perceptions of faculty. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5(4), 191-206.
- Viens, J., Lepage, M. and Karsenti, T. (2010). Vers un changement de culture en enseignement supérieur. Revue des sciences de l'éducation, 36(1), 13-23.
- Wang, S. C., Schwartz, S. J. and Zamboanga, B. L. (2010). Acculturative stress among Cuban American college students: Exploring the mediating pathways between acculturation and psychosocial functioning. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(11), 2862-2887.
- Zhou, J. (2014). Persistence motivations of Chinese doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and math. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 7(3), 177-193.