Social Sciences

Student employment has become an increasingly common feature of higher education, yet research on international students has predominantly approached paid work as an economic necessity. This article examines student employment as a culturally embedded social practice among international students in Hungary, focusing on employment patterns and cultural value orientations. The study applies a mixed-methods design, combining a focus group interview with an online questionnaire survey conducted among international students at a Hungarian university (N = 61). Cultural value orientations were measured using Hofstede’s Values Survey Module, and differences between working and non-working students were analyzed using inferential statistical methods. The results show that international students’ employment is dominated by flexible, low-entry-threshold jobs, particularly platform-based delivery work, while study-related or professional positions remain less common and are associated with higher income levels. Employment participation was significantly related to gender and academic year, with male students and those in higher years of study being more likely to work. Regarding cultural value orientations, a statistically significant difference between working and non-working students emerged only along the masculinity–femininity dimension, with working students displaying more performance-oriented values. The findings highlight that international student employment is associated with both structural constraints and culturally grounded value orientations.

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) students face persistent barriers in geometry education due to instructional approaches that inadequately support visual communication and embodied learning. This study examined DHH students’ experiences with GeoMETriA, a metaverse-based geometry learning platform integrating sign language instruction, three-dimensional visualization, and avatar-mediated interaction. Guided by the Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL), a multi-phase qualitative design was employed, including pre-workshop interviews with four special education teachers and post-workshop focus group discussions with seven DHH secondary students following a four-session learning workshop. The findings indicate that gamified activities and peer collaboration enhanced interest and sustained engagement, while avatar customization supported embodiment and a sense of presence. Students described progression from initial uncertainty to greater confidence through practice and scaffolded support. However, cognitive and usability challenges emerged, particularly concerning sign language video pacing, navigation complexity, and limited instructional scaffolding. The study contributes theoretically by extending CAMIL-informed interpretations to sign-supported metaverse learning, empirically by documenting how engagement, embodiment, and self-efficacy develop during immersive geometry learning, and practically by offering design implications including adjustable sign language delivery, structured scaffolding, and culturally responsive avatar options. These findings suggest that metaverse-based platforms hold promise for supporting DHH learners when accessibility and learner-centered principles are embedded as foundational design considerations.

As Villanova University students navigate campus life, ghost stories tied to specific buildings, paths, and rituals circulate as grassroots spatial narratives. This article argues that these stories involving haunted halls, underground tunnels, and ritualized practices surrounding seals, arches, and fountains, function as forms of Radical Placemaking, through which students collectively reinterpret, appropriate, and sometimes resist the university’s officially sanctioned spatial order. Drawing on 162 student testimonies collected in 2019, translated into Spanish, and analyzed using topic modeling, co-occurrence mapping, and GIS visualization, the study demonstrates how vernacular stories encode lived experiences, informal knowledge, and alternative claims to campus space. Nine thematic clusters emerge, organized into three narrative domains: supernatural encounters anchored to institutional buildings (including Alumni Hall’s Civil War history, the St. Mary’s nun legend, and Tolentine Hall hauntings), ritual and tradition practices that reinscribe or subvert formal authority (the Corr Chapel arch, the Driscoll Hall seal ritual, and student ceremonies), and hidden-space narratives that imagine infrastructures beyond official visibility (such as underground tunnels linking campus buildings). Analysis of narrative transmission reveals uneven power relations: institutional channels circulate curated traditions aligned with university identity. Peer networks and personal experiences generate counter-mappings that privilege exploration, embodiment, and affect. Villanova’s ghost stories constitute spatial perceptions that enable students to assert belonging, contest institutional narratives, and produce place through collective storytelling within an evolving and hierarchically governed campus landscape.