Supporting international students in higher education: constructions, cultures and clashes

Abstract

The article focuses on support issues relating to students on international degree programmes, and draws on the findings of a qualitative research project involving students enrolled on a joint degree course in English and education studies delivered at two higher education institutions in England and the Netherlands. Students on the programme were recruited from both these countries, as well as a number of other states in Europe, Africa and Asia. The paper examines the differing support priorities of international students and the ways in which these needs might be classified. In the process, associations between student characteristics (including age, ethnicity, nationality and aspects of personality) and perceived support requirements are explored. Particular attention is paid to an analysis of international students’ understandings of support, and the ways in which these understandings may be socially constructed at different levels, with regard to the wider ideological influences of the students’ educational backgrounds, and the more context specific social dynamics of ‘being on the course’.