Pursuing education overseas is a high impact practice in higher education. Students who identify as LGBTQIA + —commonly referred to as “queer,” an umbrella term—may be more likely to participate yet face additional unique challenges. Using a systematic review of literature across multiple disciplines, this paper explores LGBTQIA + students’ motivations, identity development, and university experiences while participating in education overseas. It also aims to define the term queer international student and examines the theoretical frames used to understand this population in the literature. Findings show that literature carves out a composite of students who view, and sometimes actively seek, overseas education to develop themselves, express their identities, and live in communities that are more welcoming and safer than those at home. However, they also face conflict in English language classrooms, on campuses, and with their families as they navigate expectations, with some switching between cisheteronormative and queer identities in different communities. On university campuses, scholars noted, queer international students can be viewed singularly as international students, with their sexual orientations and other intersectional identities going unrecognized or being erased. Moreover, higher education scholars and practitioners often do not designate—or perhaps exclude—international students in studies and programming for LGBTQIA + students. As a result, queer international students may not feel like they belong in any group and risk being double-marginalized in higher education. This paper concludes with five recommendations for additional research in this emerging subfield of higher education literature.

出国留学是高等教育领域一项具有重大影响的实践。 LGBTQIA +（通常被称为“酷儿”，一个总称）的学生可能更有可能参与，但也面临着额外的独特挑战。本文通过对跨学科文献的系统回顾，探讨了 LGBTQIA+ 学生在参与海外教育时的动机、身份发展和大学经历。它还旨在定义“酷儿国际学生”一词 ，并研究文献中用于理解这一群体的理论框架。调查结果表明，文学塑造了一群学生，他们关注、有时甚至积极寻求海外教育，以发展自己、表达自己的身份，并生活在比国内更受欢迎、更安全的社区中。然而，他们在英语课堂、校园以及与家人的期望中也面临着冲突，在不同社区中，一些人在顺性别规范和酷儿身份之间切换。学者们指出，在大学校园里，酷儿国际学生可能被视为唯一的国际学生，他们的性取向和其他交叉身份不被认可或被抹去。此外，高等教育学者和从业者通常不会指定（或者可能排除）国际学生参与针对 LGBTQIA + 学生的研究和项目。因此，酷儿国际学生可能觉得自己不属于任何群体，并有在高等教育中被双重边缘化的风险。本文最后提出了关于高等教育文献这一新兴子领域的额外研究的五项建议。