Orchestrating "Student Wellness" in Higher Education: International Graduate Student Experiences and University Wellness Discourses and Practices

Abstract

Drawing on official planning documents and student (n=20) and staff interviews (n=7), this study explores the phenomenon of student wellness and how it is utilized by a mid-size Ontario university to shape international graduate students into “well” subjects. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, I examine: 1) how Queen’s University, my chosen site for this research, defines, orchestrates, and produces “student wellness” through its policies and wellness programming; and 2) how this phenomenon is experienced by international graduate students. My analysis is organized into three main chapters, which explore in turn: 1) the impact of a shift in university discourses from a focus on internationalization (2015) to a focus on globalization (2023), probing how this shift shapes visions of student wellness and how international graduate student wellness gets deprioritized in the process; 2) the cultural specificities of “wellness” and competing notions of responsibility expressed by staff and students; and 3) the implications of an instrumentalist focus on outdoor recreation and leisure activities in the context of settler colonialism. In each case, I show how international graduate student wellness is a contested phenomenon. While wellness discourses are inextricable from neoliberal, individualistic expectations that require students to be informed and self-responsible, the extent to which these discourses align with student and staff experiences and perspectives varies. Given that I examine wellness in practice, I conclude by providing recommendations on the types of revisions the university could implement and suggest changes to better support student health and wellness.