Boer, Floor, de (2025) Navigating Policy Change: The Psychological Impact of the Internationalization in Balance Act on First-Year International Students. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Dutch universities have prioritized internationalization in the last two decades, resulting in a sharp increase in international student enrolments. The Internationalization in Balance Act (WIB) has been proposed to limit the number of future international students and reduce the use of English as a language of instruction. While future international students will certainly be affected by this proposed law, this thesis explored how awareness and knowledge of this new law may impact international students currently studying in the Netherlands. Therefore, the impact of reading about the WIB on perceptions of inclusion, received kindness, diversity climate, and student wellbeing was examined. Using a between-subjects one-factorial experimental design, 92 international first-year psychology students at the University of Groningen were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control condition. It was hypothesized that increasing knowledge and salience of the WIB would lead to lower scores on all four dependent variables, with the perceived diversity climate additionally mediating this relationship. The hypotheses were not supported. Surprisingly, participants in the experimental condition reported significantly higher levels of perceived inclusion. Moreover, participants showed high awareness of the WIB and recognized the potential consequences for future international students. Nevertheless, high scores were observed across all dependent variables, indicating contentment among international students at the faculty. These findings offer a valuable starting point for research on the impact of the WIB, as it moves from a proposal to implemented and integrated in university policy.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Otten, S. and Gordijn, E. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2025 12:29 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Nov 2025 12:29 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5989 |
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