The Intercultural Adaptation of the Pakistani Students at Chinese Universities

Xiaoqing Su

doi:10.13189/ujer.2017.051213

Abstract

In the past decade, the population of international students enrolling in Chinese colleges and universities has been increasing rapidly, with the students in Asia taking the most portions. Chinese higher education institutions are facing great challenges in their course of internationalization. Therefore the studies on the intercultural adaptation of international students in Chinese higher education institutions have received extensive attention. The present research was conducted to investigate the intercultural adaptation of the Pakistani students at the Chinese universities in forms of a questionnaire and interviews. Colleen Ward's cultural adjustment process model is used as the analytical lens to explore the life and study experiences of the Pakistani students from their perspectives and to understand the challenges they experienced during their intercultural communication. The students' personal reports will collectively provide some valuable information for Chinese universities to understand cultural differences that international students is bringing to Chinese campuses and to help them succeed in a totally different academic setting.

Highlights

In the past decade, especially with the implementation of China's Belt and Road initiative, the population of international students enrolling in Chinese colleges and universities has been increasing rapidly, with the students in Asia taking the most portions
This study aims to examine the intercultural adaptation of the Pakistani students at Chinese universities from the aspects of psychological adaptation and socio-cultural adaptation, through the data analysis of a survey and the interpretive research on students’ personal reports collectively
On the basis of the above findings, the following suggestions are put forward to help improve the quality of the international education for Chinese universities and intercultural adaptation of international students studying in China

Summary

Introduction

Especially with the implementation of China's Belt and Road initiative, the population of international students enrolling in Chinese colleges and universities has been increasing rapidly, with the students in Asia taking the most portions. The studies on the intercultural adaptation of international students in Chinese higher education institutions have become a popular topic. People's Republic of China and The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has established strategic cooperative partnership which has being further enhanced by the recent implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. In wake of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, the number of Chinese Government Scholarships for Pakistani students has increased to 600 a year. Compared to the year 2005, the figure has multiplied by 7.1 times in 2015

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