The dilemma of international students at UC in a pandemic context

Abstract

The internationalization of Portuguese universities is a priority for the Portuguese national government and for Portuguese higher education institutions. Nevertheless, the attraction of foreign students has brought additional challenges to universities, to the extent that, subject to an increase in internal diversity and heterogeneity, they face difficulties in integrating IS. Sporadically, there are students who complain of being victims of xenophobia, episodes of stereotyping by teachers and students of the host country and report the occurrence of incidents that accentuate the propensity towards cultural ghettoisation.