Academic Resilience During the Time of COVID-19: Higher Education Experiences from Argentina and the U.S.A

Abstract

International students face many difficulties in their academic careers and during the pandemic life was even more challenging. Being away from home and family, language difficulties, not understanding the culture, and feeling lack of belonging are just some of the additional difficulties that can be faced by this group of students. But what about during the time of a world pandemic like COVID-19? With shelter-in-place orders, remote learning, and lack of social activities, challenges are exacerbated. In both Argentina and the U.S.A., remote learning, visa issues, technological challenges and other difficulties added to the problems. And yet, students were coping. Academic resilience reflects an increased likelihood of educational success despite adversity (Cassidy, 2016). In this chapter, two educators, one in Argentina and one in the U.S.A., discuss higher education concerns in each country, as well as teaching and conducting collaborative research on academic resilience with their graduate students during the pandemic.