Paper short abstract:

This qualitative study addressed the experiences of international Black and Asian Minority Ethnicity (BAME) students in Scottish universities. This study looked at BAME students' engagement with Eurocentricity of the curriculum, language, and racism in the context of inclusion and diversity policy.

Paper long abstract:

This study sought to understand how decolonization of the curriculum could impact the experiences of international students in Scotland. By drawing on postcolonial and decolonial theories to analyze higher education (HE) curriculum and internationalization policy while interrogating these documents on issues relating to (neo)colonial and neoliberal forces and how they impact experiences of students from the Global South. In this study, higher education curriculum was conceptualized through the lens of critical race theory, to explore the relationship between knowledge, pedagogy, and power in different and unequal higher education contexts. A major focus is to bring postcolonial and decolonial analyses to the 'marketisation' processes and economic values underpinning policies and practices related to internationalisation and HE curriculum in the context of Scotland. The study argued for critical approach towards internationalization in order to bring to light the need for the rethink of the curriculum, pedagogy, and classrooms. In the areas of curriculum internationalization, international student experience, and global citizenship, this study tried to identify Eurocentric epistemological and ontological assumptions about the world and the purposes of higher education as often situated by what is possible and desirable within the frames of colonial modernity and its promises of security, prosperity, and universality. Focusing on the question of how policies in Scotland have 'dealt with' international students and what factors played a role in establishing certain 'attitudes' towards international students, which concludes that internationalization policies remain highly politicized and give little attention to epistemic freedom of international students.