Foreign Students in India: Discrimination and the Question of Academic Self-Efficacy

Discrimination and the Academic Self-Efficacy

Discrimination takes many forms, often subtle and difficult to name. As a foreign student in India, I came across a very particular one that may not be immediately identifiable. In conversations with other foreign students I had befriended in India similar experiences began to surface. They recounted repeated encounters within classrooms, peer groups and institutional spaces that they found troubling. These interactions can be small enough to pass without notice. A comment, a hesitation, a glance that lingers a moment too long. None of these determine anything on their own, yet together they begin to settle into a pattern. What accumulates across such moments gradually informs how they understand their own place within an academic setting. Needless to say, I knew I had stumbled upon something significant that couldn’t be simply categorised under racism.

If it wasn’t exactly racism, how should it be understood? This question led me to examine the issue more closely. Discrimination is not always overt hostility. There are often invisible patterns to it. It may appear in how a student is addressed, in what is expected of them, or in how their presence is received. Krieger (1999) describes discrimination as a patterned form of unequal treatment sustained through both individual interactions and institutional arrangements. Seen in this way, discrimination is not limited to overt hostility. It operates through everyday practices that position some individuals as less capable or less legitimate than others.

These experiences are frequently understood through what Contrada et al. (2001) identify as perceived ethnic discrimination. The emphasis here lies on recognition. Individuals register that they are being treated differently because of their group membership, even when each instance remains ambiguous on its own. The effect does not depend on a single event. It emerges through repetition, through the gradual formation of a pattern that becomes difficult to ignore.

It can be said the preliminary research revealed that racism is a belief or practice in which certain races (and associated physical features) are regarded as superior. By contrast, perceived ethnic discrimination refers to an individual’s subjective experience or belief that they are being treated unfairly due to their ethnic background.

Research over the past few decades has also shown that prejudice may remain unspoken in public settings while continuing to shape behaviour in less visible ways. Poteat and Spanierman (2010) note that such attitudes are often expressed in contexts where they are socially permitted, rather than eliminated altogether. Discrimination persists, even when it becomes less visible.

What intrigued me the most was that the consequences of these experiences extend beyond immediate interaction.

They influence how individuals evaluate themselves, particularly in environments where performance is constantly assessed. Seaton (2010) describes discrimination as a sustained stressor that shapes self-perception over time. Different forms of perceived ethnic discrimination produce different kinds of responses. Experiences involving threat or aggression tend to generate fear or heightened vigilance, while forms such as exclusion or social distancing are associated with lowered self-esteem and withdrawal.

Academic Self-Efficacy: How Belief Shapes Learning and Performance

Academic work depends on more than knowledge or skill. It also depends on how students understand their own ability to engage with that work. Academic self-efficacy refers to this sense of capability. Schunk (1991) defines it as a student’s confidence in their ability to perform academic tasks successfully, while Bandura (1993) situates it within a broader framework of belief and behaviour.

Students form expectations about future outcomes, which shape how they approach a task.

They decide how much effort to invest, how long to persist when faced with difficulty, and how to interpret the results they achieve. Emotional responses are also involved. A strong sense of competence reduces stress and allows for sustained engagement, while uncertainty about one’s ability often leads to anxiety that interferes with concentration. Over time, these processes influence the kinds of academic environments students choose to enter and the risks they are willing to take.

Because self-efficacy develops through experience, it remains sensitive to the conditions in which learning takes place. Zimmerman (1990) identifies personal processes, environmental conditions and behavioural responses as interconnected in shaping how students regulate their learning.

Studies across different educational contexts show that this relationship is not incidental. DeGarmo and Martinez (2006), working with Latino adolescents, found that perceived ethnic discrimination is associated with lower academic performance, reduced self-esteem and a higher likelihood of disengagement. Ghazarian (2008) extends this argument by showing that discrimination affects self-regulated learning, weakening students’ ability to sustain effort over time.

When I began looking at the experiences of international students in India the focus here was on perceived ethnic discrimination and how it relates to academic self-efficacy, or a student’s belief in their ability to succeed in academic work.

Discrimination can affect minority groups in any country, but the situation becomes more layered for students who travel abroad for education, often after investing significant time, effort and financial resources.

The discussion centres on students from three groups studying in India: Afghan, Turkmen and African students. It also considers how these experiences differ between men and women, and whether students from different backgrounds experience discrimination in the same way. Alongside this, attention is given to how these experiences shape academic confidence.

Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and it’s Impact on Academic Self-Efficacy

When examined more closely, the relationship between perceived ethnic discrimination and academic confidence reveals a pattern that is consistent but uneven. Experiences of discrimination are associated with lower levels of self-efficacy, yet the strength and nature of this relationship vary across different forms.

Experiences that directly challenge a student’s sense of competence, such as being dismissed or verbally rejected, show a particularly strong association with reduced confidence. These moments carry an evaluative force, and repeated exposure affects how students assess their own ability to succeed.

Other forms operate more indirectly. Avoidance or social distancing creates a sense of marginality without always offering explicit judgement about competence. Their effects develop gradually, shaping how students understand their position within the academic environment. More overt forms, such as threat or aggression, do not affect confidence in the same way across contexts. These variations show that discrimination does not operate in a single way. Its effects depend on how it is encountered and interpreted. Students who report higher levels of perceived discrimination also report lower confidence in their academic ability

Differences between men and women become visible within this. Female students describe more frequent experiences of discrimination, particularly in forms that involve dismissal or unequal treatment. They also report lower academic self-efficacy.

Across the three groups, the level of perceived ethnic discrimination remains broadly similar. Afghan, African and Turkmen students all describe being treated unfairly. What differs is how this connects to academic confidence. Afghan students show higher levels of academic self-efficacy and performance compared to the other groups, even while describing similar experiences. Some students appear able to sustain their confidence despite these conditions.

Rethinking Learning Conditions for Foreign Students in India

The connection between perceived ethnic discrimination and academic self-efficacy points to a broader issue within education. Academic performance is often understood in terms of ability or effort, yet the environment in which students learn shapes how they understand their own capability. When that environment introduces doubt or exclusion, it becomes part of the learning process itself.

The same environment does not affect all students in the same way.

Individuals interpret and respond differently, and this shapes how their academic confidence develops. The overall direction remains clear, even as its effects vary.

Context also matters. In settings where students are already navigating unfamiliar social and cultural environments, the effects of discrimination become more pronounced. India, as a growing destination for international students, provides one such context. Students from different regions encounter similar institutional structures, yet their experiences within them diverge. Discrimination appears as a shared reality, while its effects vary across groups and individuals.

These differences do not lead to uniform outcomes. Students respond in different ways, and similar experiences produce different results. Variations across gender and ethnicity reflect this complexity, while the broader direction remains consistent. Repeated and less visible forms of discrimination become part of how learning unfolds.

This shifts how the problem needs to be understood. Addressing perceived ethnic discrimination is not limited to ensuring fairness in interaction. It also requires recognising how such interactions shape the internal basis of learning. The question extends beyond access to education, toward how students are positioned within it, and how that positioning shapes what they believe they can do.