Reflection
As I reflected on my research, I realised that the more I engaged with this topic, the more layers of complexity emerged. The research intersects with institutional structures, government policy, colonial legacies, and educational norms, making it difficult to identify a single point of focus. I therefore attempted to reflect step by step, addressing one issue at a time.
International students’ experiences
Through the interviews, international students expressed genuine appreciation for the institution’s stated commitment to decolonisation. However, a recurring theme was the gap between institutional discourse and lived experience.
Students acknowledged that studying abroad inevitably involves cultural differences. What they identified as most impactful was not tutors asserting their own knowledge, but practices grounded in understanding, patience, and reduced judgment. While I remain uncertain whether the inclusion of marginalised voices should be equated directly with decolonisation, it became clear that those who speak least are often those who are unfamiliar with UK academic and cultural norms.
“I sometimes feel invisible, not because of language, but because I don’t speak first.”
Global economic power dynamics also shape the composition of the student body. A significant proportion of students now come from China, which can result in a “minority within a minority”.
“In the movement classes or discussions, they always ask Chinese students how it is in China, but they almost never ask me about Turkey.”
This highlights the limitations of understanding diversity purely through numbers or financial contribution. Genuine inclusion requires responding to varied lived experiences rather than demographic dominance.
Staff awareness plays a crucial role in shaping international students’ experiences. International students are not in the UK simply to absorb UK culture. They are here to learn and exchange perspectives, knowledge, and cultural practices.
Tutors often say international students are lost. This statement is completely ignorant. International students aren’t lost. They’re adjusting without any guidance. (Interviewee, staff member)
This is evident in students’ final projects, which frequently draw on their own cultural contexts. (UAL, 2018)
Students’ experiences are shaped primarily through everyday interactions with tutors, technicians, and teaching staff. Once inside the university, students rarely engage directly with the institution as an abstract structure. For both home and international students, teaching staff have the most immediate and lasting influence on their learning experience, and this influence warrants greater attention.
Through this process, I also began to understand why international students are excluded from EDI reporting. The criteria are used to eliminate the gap within students in the UK. International students are outside of this frame due to their nationality.
However, this framing cannot justify the exclusion of marginalised international students from considerations of inclusivity at the ground level. Regardless of individual wealth, UK/Western institutions occupy a dominant position within global education systems and therefore retain responsibility for students’ inclusion.
What I learned as a tutor
This research has significantly reshaped my understanding of my role as a tutor. I have become more attentive to the needs, challenges, and aspirations of international students, particularly in how they navigate learning while abroad. Engaging with decolonisation has also heightened my awareness of how classroom norms reproduce everyday power structures.
I am now more conscious of the references I introduce, the voices I prioritise, and the space I create during tutorials and group discussions. I actively try to give more room to students who are not the most vocal. Students are influenced by tutors not only through what we say, but through our actions. Regardless of scale, I intend to continue challenging bias and raising awareness when I encounter injustice in my teaching practice.
University of the Arts London (2018) Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Perspectives on Higher Education. Edited by J. Ameeriar, S. Bhagat, and P. Richards. London: University of the Arts London.