The Impact of Leisure Participation on Social Adaptation of International Students

Devrim Zerengok,Pinar Guzel,Selhan Ozbey

doi:10.11114/jets.v6i2.2680

Abstract

International students, often a noteworthy group, constitute about 10 per cent of the student population on many campuses throughout the world (OECD, 2009). At any time, there are likely to be over a million students and scholars attending institutions of higher learning abroad, and recent estimates have set the figure at about 4.5 million (Çetinsaya, G.2014). A significant portion of the contemporary literature has dealt with the problems of international students. Owing to the importance of international students to culturally diverse blend of colleges and universities, higher education institutions must develop support services to assist international students with a series of special needs ranging from adjusting to the academic requirements, to dealing with cultural factors of being drown in new community settings (Cho & Yu, 2015). Leisure, in the meanwhile, is an important experience for university students since it is a functional tool to create socially accommodating environments for this population. However, how active leisure participation impact on social adjustment has not been studied extensively in qualitative studies. Therefore, this qualitative study intended to examine the benefits and impacts of active leisure participation on social adjustment of international students in a mid-size metropolitan university in Manisa, Turkey. Overall, students demonstrated gains in social adjustment and reported psychological and physical benefits when they actively participated in leisure time activities. Study showed that international students have demands and expectations from the university in terms of leisure time activities.

Highlights

Current statistics released from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports a sharp increase in the number of students enrolled in tertiary education outside their country of citizenship, from 1.3 million in 1990 to nearly 4.3 million in 2011 (OECD, 2013)
This study has attempted to contribute to what is known about international students and the use of leisure as means of benefits for social adjustment of this student population
Academic needs, having social interaction with other students, staff and administration in the university, taking part in the campus activities, keeping psychological and physical wellbeing and sense of belonging to the university emerged as issues of social adjustment for the international students at higher education

Summary

Introduction

Current statistics released from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports a sharp increase in the number of students enrolled in tertiary education outside their country of citizenship, from 1.3 million in 1990 to nearly 4.3 million in 2011 (OECD, 2013). This means an average annual growth rate of almost 6%. The relevant data in the same report describes a noticeable expansion in the numbers of higher education institutions worldwide, which host more than 1,000 international students. Even though overall proportion of the international students in higher education institutions is still only about 10 %, the grow in the numbers of these students is noticeable

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Conclusion