The Journey and Experience of International Students: an Insight From a UK University

Abstract

This research is an explanatory study of the learning experience of international students when they come to study at UK. Survey collected from both undergraduate and postgraduate students who are studying at the University of The West of Scotland (UWS). The survey consisted on many dimensions such as selection and admission, pre arrival activities, induction, orientation, teaching and learning and engagement. Our results provide some recommendations for academic staff and for international office at UWS. For academic staff, they should integrate the international dimension while they are designing their courses. They should implement interactive lectures and involve the international students into discussions. For staff who are working in the international office, they should attend training on how to deal with international students to be able to offer good service for them. They might ask for current international students to help in recruiting international students. Our study has a number of limitations that should be taken into account in future research. The focus on this study was on one university only. Future research should collet data from different universities to allow for comparisons. This is the first study to explore the whole experience of the international students. More research is needed to focus on each of the dimensions separately i.e induction, engagement, etc…