When an international student stays at home: defining an international student in distance education

The popularity of distance education, particularly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns, necessitates a rethink of how we understand and think about students, and particularly international students in this context. This study explores how the definition of international students is impacted by their “self-perception”, within a distance education environment. When accessing higher education, international students are often given extra support and help based on their status, however, in the distance and online learning environment, their self-identification as an international student becomes vital in access to additional support. The results from six interviews and a Facebook focus group (13 participants), showed that international students from the Southern African Development Community studying distance education through the University of South Africa, consider themselves more “local” than “international”, due to their geographical closeness to the institution. Yet despite this feeling of closeness and “local”, these students are international and do not have access to the resources that a local student might have. The definition of an international student and the support that is allocated to them is vital if distance education, particularly in the online environment, is able to provide access to international education while they remain at home.