Content area
Full Text
The Experiences of International Faculty in Institutions of Higher Education: Enhancing Recruitment, Retention, and Integration of International Talent, by Chris Glass, R., Bista, K., & Lin, X. (Eds.). Routledge, 2022, 205 pp., $160
International faculty and scholars represent a critical part of global academia and internationalization efforts of individual countries and their higher education institutions. Altbach and Yudkevich (2017) broadly defined international faculty as individuals with academic appointments in countries in which they were not born, did not receive their postsecondary education, and of which they are not citizens. Leading higher education competitors on global market are actively seeking and recruiting international faculty in pursuit of uplifting their global rankings and international prominence, while others rely on them to increase the offerings of international programs or improve their international research collaborations (Altbach & Yudkevich, 2017).
Over the past two decades, the number of international faculty in the United States alone has almost doubled. As an illustration, in 1999-2000, U.S. colleges and universities welcomed approximately 75,500 faculty and researchers from around the world, while in 2018-2019, that number reached 136,563 (Institute of International Education [IIE], 2021]. Yet, the experiences of these scholars remain vastly under-investigated compared to those of domestic faculty and even those of international students. Moreover, the scarce scholarship in this domain consistently illustrates that international faculty are often not effectively integrated into their host institutions, due to encountering numerous cultural, academic, and adjustment barriers (Krsmanovic, 2022; Lawless & Chen, 2017; Murad & Samples, 2015). In response to these scholarly limitations and practical concerns, Glass, Krishna, and Lin edited The Experiences of International Faculty in Institutions of Higher Education, a comprehensive and systematic account of the unique intersection of one's cultural, social, and personal identities with those of being an international scholar. Through four major book sections, Glass et al. explore how international faculty experiences may be shaped by gender and identity, sociolinguistic and cultural diversity, and employment equity, as well as the factors contributing to their support, integration, and inclusion.
Explaining the motivating forces behind this work, co-editor Lin shared that the book was inspired by the experiences of two editors (Bista and Lin) as international...