Educational Research for Policy and Practice (2020) 19:363–388 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-020-09263-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The impact of ethnicity on the sociocultural adjustment of international students in Thai higher education Douglas Rhein 1 · William Jones 1 Received: 29 April 2019 / Accepted: 8 April 2020 / Published online: 30 April 2020 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Abstract International tertiary student mobility will continue to rise as governments and universities support diversity in education and prioritize international experience. With this mind, it should be a priority to study the impacts and impediments of student adjustment in their chosen countries. The authors advance a line of inquiry, which seeks to explore personal experiences of four distinct groups of tertiary students and identify the positives, and in particular the negative aspects of their study abroad experience. The central argument which heretofore has been understudied is that student ethnicity and incompatibility of ethnic group identities and their expressions mark the central feature inhibiting student adjustment within the Thai context. Keywords Thai higher education · Internationalization · Student adjustment · Habitus 1 Introduction Academic studies of international student adjustment have been a prominent area of cross- cultural educational research since the 1950s (Smith and Khawaja 2011). Due to the increased effects of globalization on higher education, it has become apparent that international student mobility has also increased. This has led to greater empirical attention of the adjustment or acculturation experiences of international students (Wang et al. 2012). The USA is the largest host nation for international students with approximately 20% of the total international student enrollment (Andrade and Evans 2009) while China continues to be the largest exporter of international students (Gu 2009). An increasing number of Western students who are attracted to educational opportunities in Asia are now challenging this Western dominant flow, and this has led to a rise in the number of international students coming to Asia for study abroad experiences (Lin and Kingminghae 2014). For example, Lavakare predicts that India is likely to be an educational center for international students in Asia (Lavakare 2018). Yet studies B Douglas Rhein Douglas.rhe@mahidol.edu William Jones William.jon@mahidol.edu 1 Mahidol University International College, Salaya, Thailand 123