Promoting Intercultural Contact Between Australian and International University Students

In view of the equivocal findings relating to the intercultural contact hypothesis and the practical issue of the lack of contact between Australian and international university students, a study was conducted to assess the efficacy of an intervention designed to promote contact between members of the two groups in one setting (a residential college) on their contact on the wider university campus, as well as their intercultural knowledge and acceptance. The subjects were 147 international (mainly ethnic Chinese) and Anglo‐Australian first year students living in four student residential colleges, each of which had approximately equal numbers of the two student groups. An intervention was developed which focused on the orientation program, college floor group recreational activities and college tutorial system of one of the residential colleges, the aim being to promote contact between international and Australian students. The program was evaluated after six months, the results for students in the intervention college being compared with those of students in the remaining colleges. Consistent with the intercultural contact hypothesis, the findings indicated that the extent of residential college contact generalised to university intercultural contact, knowledge and acceptance, but that the effect was greater for Australian than international students. The implications of the findings are discussed, particularly the difficulties involved in promoting intercultural contact on Australian university campuses.