Charting belongingness: a decade-long critical review of international university students’ experiences (2015–2025)

Belongingness represents a core concept in understanding international university students’ holistic experiences and outcomes. It shapes their academic achievement, psychological well-being, and social integration within cross-border higher education. This paper provides a systematic ten-year literature review covering empirical studies published between 2015 and 2025. It synthesises the evolving research landscape of international students’ sense of belonging and critically examines how belongingness has been conceptualised and investigated in transnational settings. Key emerging trends include the expansion of qualitative research designs, greater focus on contextual factors shaping students’ belonging experiences, and growing attention to intersectionality. The review also identifies significant gaps in existing scholarship. These include an overemphasis on international students in Global North institutions and a persistent deficit framing that portrays such students as lacking sufficient belonging. By systematically mapping this decade-long research trajectory, this study advocates for more nuanced, contextually grounded analytical perspectives that move beyond simplistic individual-centric judgements. Such approaches recognise the dynamic interplay of layered contextual constraints, uneven global educational hierarchies, and proactive student agency within today’s multipolar higher education system. Ultimately, this refined, intersectionality-informed lens advances more equitable, inclusive, and holistic understandings of international student belonging across global higher education contexts.