Cultural Anchors and Student Experiences: A Cross-National Analysis of India and BelgiumCultural Anchors and Student Experiences: A Cross-National Analysis of India and Belgium

Abstract

This article views culture as the invisible organizing framework for how students "make their
way in life"-which frames their outlook toward their studies, their approach to building relationships
with each other and with faculty, their pattern of interacting with their peers and
instructors, their psychological states, and so on. In this exploratory article on this topic, an
exploration is given on comparing and contrasting the cultures-based on students' attributes,
learning practices, social behaviours, value systems, views on the mind, and engagement with
globalization in a group of Indian versus Belgian university students. Relying on six-dimensions
of Hofstede's (2010) classification, Triandis's (1995) high- and low-individualist/collectivist
ways of understanding culture, Hall's (1976) high-and low-communicative style, and
Bourdieu's (1986) idea of cultural capital, the most distinctive cultural differences between
India and Belgium are pinpointed, and we discuss how these are “lived.” furthermore, new,
“hybrid” cultures resulting from digital shifts, and mobility are discussed and offered for discussion
and response by policy- makers, student affairs professional and Educators. The important
discoveries of this article is the culture characteristics that Indian students generally
show is collectivist more often impacting on their learning style and interaction with other
people, while Belgian students possess strong individualist characteristics and prefer the
sense of autonomy in the university life; at the same time, the generation of hybrid cultural
identity among students demonstrates the globalizing effect and the power of digitalization
over the conventional cultures.