Support For International Students Research Articles

Fragmentary Consideration on the Extra-curricular Program of Employment Support for International Students

Fragmentary Consideration on the Extra-curricular Program of Employment Support for International Students

Unpacking the value sought by Chinese international students in UK higher education

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to offer multi-dimensional insight into notions of value sought by Chinese international students (CIS), the UK higher education sectors largest overseas student body. Value in the context of student recruitment is often discussed one dimensionally, often as an input-output calculation. Following calls for higher education institutions to better understand the needs and expectations of international students and to adopt strategic management and marketing theory we examine the push and pull factors for Chinese international students drawing on concepts from within the Service-Dominant Logic paradigm such as ‘value-in-context’ and ‘value-in-social-context’ to offer a more nuanced view of value sought. We conduct a qualitative study of 20 Chinese international students, a mix of undergraduate and postgraduate and from a range of subject areas. Our findings highlight a number of different value types sought by Chinese international students each of which can be linked to the development of identity and the key consumer value types of ‘esteem’ and ‘status’. With a greater understanding of the value sought by Chinese international students universities will be better able to develop their recruitment strategies and their provision and support for Chinese international students in order to more effectively co-create that value.

Social Support, Academic Burnout, and Life Satisfaction of International Students

This study aims to explore the internal relationship between academic burnout, social support, and the life satisfaction of Chinese overseas students using the College Student's Learning Burnout Scale, the Social Support Scale, and the Life Satisfaction Scale to survey 167 international students. It is indicated by the results that the overall academic burnout of international students is at the upper-middle level, the level of objective support, subjective support, and overall social support of female international students is greater than that of male international students, but there is no significant difference in the utilisation of support between female and male international students. Social support has a significant and positive predictive effect on life satisfaction, while the relationship between social support and life satisfaction is negatively moderated by academic burnout.

Inclusive mental health support for international students: Unveiling delivery components in higher education.

This study examines the delivery components of inclusive mental health services in higher education, centering on international university students. Through interviews with 32 participants at a state university in the United States, including students, counseling staff, and faculty, six key themes emerged: mental health professionals' multicultural self-awareness, focus on reparative services, mainstream mental health theories and approaches, professionals' cultural background, faculty involvement and physical space and confidentiality. These findings underscore the importance of training for professionals, expansive mental health offerings, incorporation of diverse approaches, confidentiality, active faculty participation and suitable physical environments. By addressing these components, universities can enhance the quality of mental health support for international student populations, promoting their overall well-being and academic success.

Enhancing mental health support for international students: A digital framework for holistic well-being in higher education

<p>Mental health issues among students in Australia, particularly international students, remain a significant concern in higher education. We investigated the factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of current mental health services and proposed an innovative digital solution to address these persistent challenges. We introduced a formalized "Well-being Assistive Technology Framework" designed to tackle key issues students face, including social isolation, financial difficulties, and language barriers. These challenges, while exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to impact student well-being in the post-pandemic era. Based on this framework, a community-based mental health networking mobile application prototype was developed. The app aims to combat mental health issues by facilitating peer support, increasing service awareness, and overcoming language and cultural barriers. It provides a holistic approach to student well-being, incorporating features for quick access support, financial wellness, cultural integration, self-care, self-assessment, legal rights information, and community engagement. Future works involve user-based validation of the developed mobile app to assess its efficacy.</p>

Multicultural Classrooms in European Higher Education: Findings from Interviews with International Students and Teaching Staff

The research, prepared for the Multicultural Classrooms: Inclusive Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Erasmus+ project, endeavours to assess the current state of multicultural classrooms in Europe through interviews conducted with lecturers and students at partner universities (Türkiye, Belgium, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Spain).
 
 The research evaluates instructional systems designed to equip faculty members with the competence to manage heterogeneous and culturally diverse classroom environments. Additionally, the report seeks to identify avenues for embedding multiculturalism within European higher education. The methodological approach involves a literature review on multicultural classrooms, and the report accentuates the need to extend discussions on multicultural classrooms to the higher education context. The report presents findings from interviews with international students and teaching staff, summarising emergent themes derived from content analysis. These findings aim to enhance comprehension of multicultural classrooms in Europe and inform strategies to promote diversity and multiculturalism in European higher education institutions.
 
 The report underscores shared themes and fundamental aspects of higher education internationalisation within multicultural classrooms. The importance of language proficiency in English as a determinant of successful internationalisation is consistently recognised. Cultural diversity is celebrated as a valued ethos across all countries, with exposure to diverse cultures and perspectives deemed intrinsic to studying abroad. Institutional support for international students is highlighted, emphasising the need for robust orientation programs and support mechanisms.
 
 Challenges tied to cultural differences and language barriers are acknowledged universally, underscoring the significance of fostering cultural sensitivity and intercultural communication skills. Inclusive academic environments for international students are prioritised, where lecturers strive to establish settings fostering open dialogues and intercultural competence. The report emphasises the significance of training and professional development for lecturers in multicultural classrooms, including recommendations for observation periods abroad and exchange programs to promote inclusive practices.
 
 Based on an exhaustive analysis of national reports, the international report culminates in a compilation of recommended training courses crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of multicultural classrooms. Collectively, these findings underline a shared commitment to inclusive and supportive environments for international students across the featured countries. The insights gleaned hold value in shaping higher education internationalisation within and beyond Europe, acknowledging the significance of global interconnectedness and diversity in contemporary education.

Critical Analysis of International Students’ Experiences in Using Career Services by Adopting Neo-Racism Theory

International students frequently encounter difficulties using university career services for their postgraduation career development. University career services provide very little customized and inclusive support for international students coming from different national and cultural backgrounds. By adopting neo-racism theory and drawing on findings in the literature and from my master’s thesis, I provide a critical discussion on how this lens can be applied in analyzing international students’ challenges in using career resources in the Canadian context. Pragmatically, the paper underscores the need for university career centres to adopt a culturally sensitive approach to support international students’ career development.

From Learning to Teaching: Incorporating Cultural Familiarity to Enhance GTA Support for International Students' Learning

From Learning to Teaching: Incorporating Cultural Familiarity to Enhance GTA Support for International Students' Learning

Is University Support Effective? A Longitudinal Study of Cultural Adaptation of South Asian Students in Chinese Universities

The successful adjustment of international students to the new environment depends on their ability to interact effectively with the external environment. However, the literature has not yet provided a clear understanding of how the support provided by host universities affects the academic achievement and cultural adaptation of international students, particularly in longitudinal studies involving students from different countries and regions in China. Based on Student-centered Learning Engagement framework, this study developed and tested a model composed of three variables—university support, academic achievement and cultural adaptation, and collected data from South Asian students at Chinese universities from 2017 to 2019 through questionnaires. The findings revealed that university support significantly affected cultural adaptation through academic achievement. The study suggests that Chinese universities should provide appropriate levels of support for international students to achieve positive academic outcomes, and to better understand and adapt to the universities, societies, and cultures.

Qualitative Study of the Cross-cultural Adaptation of Chinese Students in Philippines

The paper sought to understand the current situation and problems of cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students and provide a reference basis for cross-cultural adaptation. From January 2023 to July 2023, 12 Chinese students in the Philippines were selected by purposive sampling method, and semi-structured interviews were conducted by descriptive nature research method, and the data were analyzed by using Colaizzi's seven-step analysis method to extract themes. Three themes were extracted: life adjustment problems, communicative adjustment problems, and psychological adjustment problems. Firstly, the problems of communicative adaptation of Chinese students are more prominent, especially language problems and cultural differences are the main factors that produce communicative adaptation problems; secondly, the problems of living adaptation are common, especially the problems of accommodation environment and living conditions are the most critical factors that affect living adaptation; finally, the problems of psychological adaptation are not negligible, and psychological adaptation problems are the most important factors that Chinese students tend to solve through internal adjustment. International students are more inclined to adjust their psychological adjustment problems through internal adjustment means and are less likely to share their psychological difficulties actively, and compared with other adjustment problems, psychological adjustment problems are often more easily diluted and neglected by international students. This paper provides a qualitative study on the intercultural adjustment of Chinese students to provide a reference for the study of international students' intercultural adjustment and to provide information and emotional support for Chinese international students to promote the level of international students' intercultural adjustment ability.

Supporting international students with disabilities

Dr. Loren O’Connor, the Director of Kolpin & O’Connor Global Consultants, an international firm specializing in helping universities create accessible education offices and advancing key equity and inclusion initiatives, discusses how postsecondary institutions can support international students with disabilities. You can contact Dr. O’Connor at dr.oconnor.global@gmail.com.

Supporting international students with disabilities

Dr. Loren O’Connor, the Director of Kolpin & O’Connor Global Consultants, an international firm specializing in helping universities create accessible education offices and advancing key equity and inclusion initiatives, discusses how postsecondary institutions can support international students with disabilities. You can contact Dr. O’Connor at dr.oconnor.global@gmail.com.

Supporting international PGT students’ interaction and participation, academic confidence and belonging through academic skills classes and a student-led video project

This paper reports on a research project which took place at a university in the North of England during the academic year 2021-22. As a small team of discipline-based Academic Skills Tutors, we provide weekly two-hour classes for PGT Education students. Classes focus on giving students the tools to develop their academic and communication skills. The aim of our research was to find out about students' interaction and participation, levels of academic anxiety, and sense of belonging. To gather students’ views, we conducted an online survey which was sent to all students, and we ran three focus group sessions. We then presented the results to students and asked them if they would like to participate in a video project in which their experiences were captured, with a view to creating a resource for incoming PGT students to support their transition to postgraduate study in the UK. The project produced three short videos, each of which picks up one of the themes of the research (participation, academic anxiety and belonging). This paper first presents our research findings on the three themes: student interaction and participation, academic anxiety and students' sense of belonging. It then reflects on the process of producing the student-led video project.

Effects of Chinese academic management environments on international students’ academic experiences

ABSTRACT International student numbers in China are growing, but limited research considers their academic experiences in China’s higher education system. This qualitative study reveals international students’ experiences regarding academic adaptation and success in China’s two academic management environments: ‘semi-differential’ and ‘differential’. The findings reveal that students’ academic experiences and challenges differ depending on the academic management environment. International students in the ‘semi-differential’ model struggle with adapting to academic knowledge, language proficiency and poorly fitted teaching styles but generally overcome these challenges and achieve academic success owing to push motivations and a more integrated environment. In contrast, the ‘differential’ model allows easy adaptation and graduation but leads to a lack of academic confidence, low levels of responsibility towards education and questioning educational quality. To promote the sustainable development of international education and better support international students, Chinese campuses should enhance their institutional arrangements.

Efforts to create teaching materials by Japanese level—Fukuoka Prefecture Japanese Learning Support Project Vol.1—

<p>福岡縣留學生支援中心營運協議會為在福岡縣內的大學等就讀的留學生，策劃了商務日語課程和面試對應練習，並提供在日本求職的輔導。在2020年7月31日（週五）至2020年9月18日（週五）每週五（共8次）為了因 COVID-19 而被限制外出的日語學習者提供了不同水平的日語學習教材及解說影片。感興趣的人可以在轉播時間透過電子郵件收到所需級別的學習教材。教材末尾附有問答講解，讓學習者在解題後可立即核對答案。為減輕獨自學習的顧慮，中心網站上公開了答案解說影片，讓有興趣的人觀看。教材涵蓋商務日語（相當於N1、N2）和生活用日語（相當於N3、N4）。</p> <p> </p><p>Fukuoka International Student Support Center Management Council plans business Japanese courses and interview preparation exercises for foreign stu-dents studying at universities in Fukuoka Prefecture, and provides job hunting counseling in Japan. From July 31, 2020 (Friday) to September 18, 2020 (Friday) Every Friday (8 times in total), Japanese language learning materials and explan-atory videos of different levels are provided for Japanese learners who are re-stricted from going out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Interested parties can receive study materials for the desired level via email during broadcast times. There are question and answer explanations at the end of the textbook, so that learners can check the answers immediately after solving the questions. In order to alleviate the worries of studying alone, the center website has released a video explaining the answers for those who are interested to watch. The teaching ma-terials cover business Japanese (equivalent to N1, N2) and daily life Japanese (equivalent to N3, N4).</p> <p> </p>

Remote Learning in Higher Education During the Pandemic: A Study of the Experiences of Chinese International Students at United Kingdom and United States Universities in 2020/21

During the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, many universities around the world made a drastic change by transferring most of their offline classes to emergency remote learning (ERL). The aim of this study was to explore how Chinese students, who studied in United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) universities during the 2020/21 academic year, perceive their experiences of remote learning. As the UK and the US have two relatively advanced education systems, the arrangements of their universities for ERL and their support for international students are worth exploring. Moreover, during the ERL, a portion of Chinese students had online classes in their home countries instead of the country in which their universities are located. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were carried out to explore the academic experiences and social interaction of students who studied in UK and US universities, while remaining in China. The data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method. The findings showed that ERL was perceived negatively by students despite its flexibility in areas of academic learning experiences and social interaction.

Investigating the Social and Academic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on International Students at a Canadian University

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant disruptions in traditional educational policies and practices worldwide. The study adopted an equity, diversity, and inclusion lens to investigate the impact of the pandemic on international students in a Canadian university. The findings from data analysis identified challenges and supports for international students in five areas: academic, financial, health and well-being, socialization, and housing and accommodation. There were several gaps between international students’ academic and social needs during the pandemic and the institutional support. While the university prioritized supports in the academic domain, international students identified social challenges as more significant during the pandemic. The gap was also evident in communicating institutional support to students, as some students were not aware of the spectrum of institutional services. Finally, there was a need for more targeted support for international students. The pandemic called for more fundamental and comprehensive actions to support the diverse student population.

Shifting Gears in a Pandemic: The Impact of Online Academic Support for International and Domestic Students

During a global pandemic, many students in 2020-2021 turned to peer-facilitated academic support through supplemental instruction (SI) to succeed. In this study, proficient students were hired as SI Leaders and trained to facilitate study sessions in a collaborative virtual learning environment. The impact of online SI support is assessed upon subgroups of 4,831 students enrolled in difficult courses at a four-year public university. Mean course GPAs and pass rates of international students, students of color, and white students with varying levels of SI session attendance were examined. One-way ANOVA and chi-square test results reveal significant differences by level of attendance for students of color and white students, with higher mean course GPAs and pass rates associated with higher levels of attendance at SI sessions for all three subgroups. These results are consistent with feedback from SI attendees and convey the significance of programs like SI, especially in times of crisis.

Development and empirical study of international student satisfaction model of online course learning interaction in chinese universities.

COVID-19 has disrupted education internationalisation around the world, making online learning a necessary means of learning. This study proposes an International Student Satisfaction Index Model (ISSM) on the interaction of online international courses in Chinese universities, aiming to investigate the potential factors that affect international students' online learning interaction. Based on the large-scale online course practice in Chinese universities during the pandemic, this study adopted a stratified random sampling method to select 320 international students participating in online courses as a research sample. The model proposed in this study includes four antecedent variables, one target variable, and one outcome variable. This study is quantitative, using SPSS26.0 and AMOS 21.0 to analyse the collected empirical data, and the results verify the nine research hypotheses proposed and the applicability of the online course international students' satisfaction index model (ISSM) proposed. The research results provide strong theoretical and practical support for international students' satisfaction with online course learning interaction, which is conducive to the reform of online courses and improving international students' retention rate in the online course.

ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT AN INDONESIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Academic language socialization refers to the process of helping students to gain knowledge of the language and an ability to participate in new discourse communities by using the language appropriately. Previous research mostly discussed language socialization from students’ perspectives in overseas, such as in Taiwan, America, and Malaysia. In Indonesia, academic language socialization is still less explored, whereas Indonesia is incessantly to internationalize the university by receiving international students from around the world. Therefore, this research is designed to explore academic language socialization for international students from the university administrators’ perspectives, focusing on the university policies, academic and non-academic supports, and challenges. To collect the data, the researcher interviewed five participants; the director of postgraduate, the head of department of masters in Economics and Development Studies, the head of the language centre, one lecturer, and one international student. In addition, the researcher also did classroom observations, [W1] and document analysis (i.e., policy documents). By using interactive data analysis by Miles, et al. (2014), the findings revealed that there were gaps between the applicable policies and implementations.[W2] To overcome the gaps, the university provided academic and non-academic support. For academic supports, the university provided the language center support for international students to have Indonesian language training both for general purposes, and academic purposes. For non-academic supports, the university provided the international students with some facilities, such as housing, cultural studies, vacation together, and art and culture festival. However, there were also several challenges both from bottom-up and top-down perspectives. The challenges were the results of the gaps between the applicable policies and implementations in receiving international students at the university. This result implies the need to reformulate policies of recruitment of international students and provide better academic and non-academic support for the students.