Cultural barriers and enablers of integrating educational migrants from the Global South: The case of graduate students in Europe

The study explores how the structural conditions are perceived as barriers and enablers for the adaptation and integration of international students from the Global South into the host universities in the Global North. In this paper, Global South is represented by countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, henceforth (SSA), and Global North is represented by Europe or more precisely-Estonia (EE) and Denmark (DK). Using a phenomenological research design, the study revealed several cultural barriers for integrating internationally mobile students from SSA, including differences in teaching and learning philosophies, the dominant culture's fear of the “others” or cultural insecurity. In terms of the enablers, the study identified the buddy program, language and cultural training, and orientations for international students as some of the key enablers for integrating international students into the host universities in EE and DK.