What College Counselors Need to Know About International Student Advisers: Field Notes on the Professionals, the Clients, and the Challenges

Abstract

As the service functions of campus-based international student offices in American colleges and universities have changed and evolved, especially since 9/11, the roles of the professionals in those offices, the “international student advisers,” have changed as well. These unique professionals function in the central pressure point between two very different world views of international students. Higher education perceives them not only as benign members of the academic community, but as strong and necessary benefactors intellectually, culturally, and economically. However, this perspective is not shared by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents more often than not see international students as potential security threats. International student advisers are engaged in a high-stakes business where an adviser's actions can have tremendous impact on a student client's life, for good or for ill. This article will explore the professional lives of international student advisers and demonstrate the facets of their complex work which make it unique in higher education.