Internationalization and Changing Student Demographic: How Ethno-Racial Clubs Help Shape and Navigate the Student Experience on Canadian University Campuses

As globalization continues to make the world a smaller place, and the internationalization of higher education brings immigrant, international and domestic students closer together within post-secondary institutions, ethno-racial clubs have increasingly emerged on Canadian campuses. York University, for example, houses over 65 ethno-racial clubs, which provide both socio-cultural and psychological supports for students of diverse backgrounds. These ethno-racial clubs can be defined as “safe spaces” (Gee 2004) on campus where diverse students can embrace their ethnicity, cultures and backgrounds. These clubs may also serve as space to foster student engagement, intercultural dialogue, and international perspectives. This research proposes to contextualize the role and functions of ethno-racial clubs in an increasingly diverse university environment by conducting a case study of York University. Through interviews with two students from the Chinese Culture Club and the Ukrainian Students’ Associations, both clubs that represent a large and organized student membership on the York campus, this study will provide critical insights and perspectives on how ethnoracial clubs engage students around questions of self-affiliation. This research aims to broaden discussion on how post-secondary institutions are internationalizing, and how students are affected by internationalization and how they (re) envision their place on campus as a result of these efforts.