Discuss about the Challenges International Students Face When Coming to Another Country.
The primary objective of the international students is to achieve the higher education from a foreign country, which provides a better quality of education that the country where the student is born. Receiving the education from a better country helps the students to have a better understanding about the values, beliefs and cultures of the countries, which helps them in serving as an ambassador of culture between the origin country and the foreign country. These types of students are among the best students in the origin country and have a strong set of skills in their respected fields along with better job opportunities after the completion of their educational course (Deresky 2017, pp. 19-27). It is seen that the increase in foreign students in the United States increased to 640,000 in the academic year of 2007-2008, which around 4 percent rise that the previous years. The increase in the number of students indicated that the colleges and universities had competitive advantage on a global scale with respect to diversity and excellence. Most of the foreign students that come to the US and the United Kingdom are Asians where India is one of the largest contributors followed by China and Korea. The North-American and African students constitute of the other part (Wu, Garza and Guzman 2015, pp. 7-14).
The African students constitute of about 6 percent of the international student category in the United States and United Kingdom. Africa is one of the oldest and hugely populated continents in the world where it is believed that Egypt is one of the earliest settlements for the human civilization (Teichler 2014, pp. 393-408). The African continent consists of 54 countries and has many natural wonders such as Mount Kilimanjaro and the Sahara desert, which are only a few of the attractions. The continent is monolithic in nature and the international students come from specific regions, which are located in some of the countries (Abdullah, Aziz and Ibrahim 2014, pp. 235-253).
The administrators of the universities are of the belief that the workforce that will be educated with respect to political, economic and social development will help the emerging counties in welcoming the international students. The educators also believe that sharing the knowledge will help in enhancing the understanding of the international students as well. The international students will be able to achieve the academic goals through a proper source of cultural diversity from the colleges and universities.
The aims and objectives for the study will be to determine the following:-
The research questions of the study will be as follows:-
The study will be based on the following hypothesis:-
The research study will help in evaluating the factors that the students face in a foreign country along with the factors that help in contributing fort their success. The students who are of European and American backgrounds do not face any challenges in the foreign country while the Asian and the African students feel the changes, as they have different cultural backgrounds.
While conducting the process of research, the following assumptions were made:-
The limitation will be that the participants who will take part in the research process will be asked the same questions in various ways and the responses were triangulated in a proper manner. The in-depth interviews will help the researcher to differentiate the findings based on common threads with respect to reliability and the challenges that the student will face in the foreign country while pursuing higher education.
International student- They will pursue the higher education at a graduate and undergraduate level with the intention to return to the country of origin after the studies are completed.
Culture- It is the way of life that people adopts, which constitutes of behaviors, values, beliefs and symbols that are accepted within the society.
Culture shock- It is the feeling of isolation and anxiety that is experienced by the person when they encounter another culture.
Acculturation- It is the process through which the people of a particular culture adopts the behavior and beliefs of other cultures.
The review of literature will consist of the challenges that will be faced by the students when they go to a foreign country for pursuing higher education. The challenges are mainly inclusive of the climate and living conditions along with alienation and loneliness, personal, discrimination and stereotypes, proficiency of the language, personal and the financial conditions. The international students will be able to overcome the challenges if they follow the mechanisms such as flexibility, support systems that are available locally, self-determination, motivation, hard work and support from the family (Madge, Rgahuram and Noxolo 2015, pp. 681-701).
The international students face many difficulties in adapting to the new time zones and different weather conditions, which is different from the home countries. This is a major challenge, as the students need to adjust their body according to the weather and climatic conditions of the host country. The international students may feel disoriented and confused during the time of adjusting their schedules. The other impact will be that the food, which the students will be exposed to may result in becoming thin for the students (Sawir 2013, pp. 359-378).
The international students may face challenges within the society in the host country, which may result in a sense of loss, as they will be separated from their family and friends. This loss for the student may result in loneliness, loss of confidence and will confuse them in having a leisure period within the new environment (Ploner 2017, pp. 425-444). This results in formation of strong ethnic communities by the international students, which will serve as a particular psychological function. The monocultural communities that are formed by the international students are mainly from the same country, which helps them in staying attached to their cultural and ethnic values. These communities will help the international students to have an academic and professional assistance along with the need for recreations by these students (Sullivan and Kashubeck-West 2015, pp. 1-11). These cultural groups have helped the international students to develop a sense of belonging, as they are exposed to the same cultural systems. The disadvantage is that the international students will become isolated and lose contacts with the students who are from the host country. It is seen that the African students who come to study in other countries are selective in choosing their groups, which will help them in achieving their academic goals along with preserving their cultures as well (Wallace and Dunn 2013, pp. 27-52).
The extents of the challenges that are present in the society have different opinions with respect to differences in their personality along with the social stigmas that are present and the experiences in prejudice. The international students need to show more extraversion, which will help them in maintaining and developing new relationships through the support networks that are present in the society. Extraversion will help in understanding the openness and creativity along with a level of sensitivity among themselves. The students who exhibit shyness and have low self-esteem along with anxiety may have less experience in developing the success in maintaining and developing new relationships with others (Cai and Kivisto 2013, pp. 55-78).
The female students have been bought up in a warm and compassionate manner in their country of origin than the men, which shows that they have a better support system than men do. This shows that the female international students may experience few challenges in the society when compared to male counterparts (Pasztor 2015, pp. 832-842).
The prejudices and the stereotypes that the national of the host country have with respect to the international students has impeded the ability of these students in developing and maintaining relationships in the host countries. The previous studies conducted by different researchers have shown that the international students who are of Nigerian origin face discrimination on the basis of race and color of the skin, which creates a negative impact, as they try to interact with the national students (Yue, Le and Terry 2014, pp. 10-20).
The foreign students who are of European background exhibit normative attitudes and behaviors in countries like United States and United Kingdom, which puts them at a risk of alienation. It is also seen that the African and the Asian students face maximum risks, which has resulted in a higher level of depression among the students than the Asian counterparts have experienced (Gomes et al. 2014, pp. 2-15).
The racial discriminations have been difficult for the international students especially those that belong from a racially homogeneous country. These students have not encountered any discrimination with respect to race until they have come to the foreign countries to pursue their higher education, as they become the minorities in those countries. The negative stereotypes that they face are based on two aspects such as neo-racism and racial discrimination, which are based on culture and color respectively (Mestenhauser 2015, pp. 3-15). The local students of the country often have negative impressions of the cultures that are followed by the international students, which create a negative effect on the surrounding environment on a global scale. The Asian and the African students have mostly struggled while performing in their respective schools, which are seen as a negative effect on the inequalities of class when they go to a different country for their educational purpose (Yue, Le and Terry 2014, pp. 10-20).
The international students who are of African origin has a history of slavery, which is known by the universities and the locals of the developed countries create a negative impact on the foreign students, which leads to cultural shocks. It is seen that the students find themselves within the web of racism, xenophobia and face problems in adjusting to the new environment (Gomes et al. 2014, pp. 2-15).
The international students face problem while speaking, as they are unaware of the local languages that is prevalent in the host country. Most of the international students are unable to pass the test of proficiency of language, which causes hindrances for them in understanding the lectures or write reports and is unable to express their ideas to the professors. The proficiency of language is a major factor for success of the international students based on academics (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2013, pp. 10-15).
The international students face a culture shock that is in terms of the adjusting to the culture in an environment that is not known to them. It is seen that cultural shock occurs on four different levels such as fascination with novelty, beginning to adjust in a new place, hostility and the customs and rituals that they need to accept in the new country. However, it is seen that these stages are not in a sequential manner, as these stages happen one after another during the period of difficulty. The anxiety and stress symptoms that are caused due to cultural shock are inclusive of home depression, sadness, homesickness, and inability to eat may have a negative impact on the health and safety of the students (Alam et al. 2013, pp. 870-874).
The challenges with respect to academics is often called as education shock, which may arise with the difficulties that the international students face regarding the expectation, cultures in the classroom and the relationship between the student and the faculty members in the host countries. These challenges may occur due to the differences in the system of the education, proficiency of language and the cultural difference between the host country and the country of origin of the student (Hughes 2013, pp. 126-146).
The international students will experience financial concerns when adjusting to the new environment due to the factor of loneliness. The international students need to attend the universities on a full-time basis and may not get the permit for working in the host country so that they can earn an additional income. The students need to pay the tuition fees, which are relatively higher, as they do not receive any financial help from the government or the international agencies that are present there. This has resulted in stress that happens due to social, academic, cultural and financial challenges that they face, which results directly to a feeling of homesickness and alienation. This has resulted in anxiety, depression and problems that may arise due to lack of hunger and sleep (Bernard 2017, pp. 210-213).
To ensure the success of the international students, the universities and colleges have taken up the programs that will help the different needs of the international students to be met in an efficient manner. The students need to undergo the administrative paperwork that will ensure them to remain in status and undertake the academic programs like English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the tutors who will assist them in the academic sessions (Zheng 2014, pp. 136-143). The universities and colleges have also started incorporating the cultural programs that will help the students in adapting the new culture. Another form of cultural program will be to conduct workshops on the cultures that are prevalent in the host country so that the seniors of the universities may assist the juniors in understanding the local culture in a better way. These workshops will help the international students in developing and maintaining friendships within the community so that they can share the experiences and advice with each other (Van Mol 2014, pp. 3-5).
The research study will help in determining the international students who are going abroad in countries like United Kingdom and United States for pursuing their higher education. The students will face many challenges while adjusting themselves in the new environment. There will be problems such as depression, discrimination and eating disorders, which may result in eating and sleep disorders for the students. The local students of the host country need to help the international students so that they can feel comfortable in adapting to the new environment.
The colleges and the universities need to organize workshops and various programs so that the international students can have a better understanding about the culture that is prevalent in the host country. This will help them in adapting to the cultures and combine it with their origin countries so that they can compare it with each other, which will ensure a better rate of reliability between the cultures.
The main aim of this chapter is to understand the methodologies that will be used for conducting the research study by using various methods for completing the research and by collecting samples and responses from the target population. This will help in the process of data analysis, which will make the research study authentic. The questionnaire that will be prepared for the study will be distributed among the target population so that the answers that will be provided by them will help in conducting the research in an efficient manner (Mackey and Gass 2015, pp. 16-20).
The design for the research needs to be built so that it can help in completing the process in a better manner. The use of different tools and elements will help the research to be conducted in a simple manner. The research process will be conducted using the descriptive type of investigation, as it will help the researcher to gain a better knowledge about the topic and provide better perspectives so that other researchers can use the research in the future (Brinkmann 2014, pp 1008-1010).
The positivism method will be adopted so that the datas that will be collected for the research process can be measured in a better manner. The positivism method will help in testing the hypothesis by analyzing the data so that the outcome can be achieved, as the study will be conducted by analyzing the data in an in-depth manner.
The research will be conducted on the various colleges and universities that are in United States. The questionnaire will be distributed among the international students so that they can give their opinion about what they feel as the necessary challenges.
The research will be conducted by distributing questionnaires among the international students who are studying in the universities and colleges of United States. The target population for the effective study of the research will be to get the reaction of a minimum of 100 students so that the research study can be done in a better way.
The process of sampling will be to select a part of the population from the entire population so that the data can be collected in a better manner. The research process will be based on non-probability process, as the data will be collected based on random selection. This will help the research to be conducted in a fair manner (Panneerselvam 2014, pp. 4-7).
The research will be based on qualitative and quantitative study, where the qualitative study will be done based on the interviews that will be collected from the teachers and professors and quantitative data will be collected from the students, which will help in analyzing the data.
The analysis of the data will be done using the SPSS software and using the Chi-Square test analysis, which help sin determining the relationship between two associated variables (Flick 2015, pp. 9-18).
While the research will be conducted, the researcher needs to maintain some etiquette so that the surrounding environment is not harmed and the research can be conducted in a proper manner. The researcher needs to be patient while collected the data so that the data collection can be done in a fair and just manner. Apart from this, the researcher needs to abide by the Data Protection Act where the information that is collected by the researcher will not be leaked anyhow.
Reference List
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Alam, F., Alam, Q., Chowdhury, H. and Steiner, T., 2013. Transnational education: benefits, threats and challenges. Procedia Engineering, 56, pp.870-874.
Bernard, W.T., 2017. Broadening horizons: International exchanges in social work. Routledge.
Brinkmann, S., 2014. Interview. In Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1008-1010). Springer New York.
Cai, Y. and Kivistö, J., 2013. Tuition fees for international students in Finland: where to go from here?. Journal of Studies in International Education, 17(1), pp.55-78.
Czinkota, M.R. and Ronkainen, I.A., 2013. International marketing. Cengage Learning.
Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.
Gomes, C., Berry, M., Alzougool, B. and Chang, S., 2014. Home away from home: International students and their identity-based social networks in Australia. Journal of International Students, 4(1), pp.2-15.
Hughes, H., 2013. International students using online information resources to learn: Complex experience and learning needs. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 37(1), pp.126-146.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.
Madge, C., Raghuram, P. and Noxolo, P., 2015. Conceptualizing international education: From international student to international study. Progress in Human Geography, 39(6), pp.681-701.
Mestenhauser, J.A., 2015. On the Hologram of International Education. In Internationalizing higher education (pp. 3-15). SensePublishers.
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Pásztor, A., 2015. Careers on the move: international doctoral students at an elite British university. Population, Space and Place, 21(8), pp.832-842.
Ploner, J., 2017. Resilience, moorings and international student mobilities–Exploring biographical narratives of social science students in the UK. Mobilities, 12(3), pp.425-444.
Sawir, E., 2013. Internationalisation of higher education curriculum: the contribution of international students. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 11(3), pp.359-378.
Sullivan, C. and Kashubeck-West, S., 2015. The interplay of international students’ acculturative stress, social support, and acculturation modes. Journal of International Students, 5(1), pp.1-11.
Teichler, U., 2014. Opportunities and problems of comparative higher education research: The daily life of research. Higher Education, 67(4), pp.393-408.
Van Mol, C., 2014. Intra-European student mobility in international higher education circuits: Europe on the move. Springer.
Wallace, M. and Dunn, L. eds., 2013. Teaching in transnational higher education: enhancing learning for offshore international students. Routledge.
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Yue, Y., Le, Q. and Terry, D.R., 2014. Transition to an unfamiliar environment: International students’ living experiences in an Australian regional area. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association (JANZSSA), (23), pp.10-20.
Zheng, P., 2014. Antecedents to international student inflows to UK higher education: A comparative analysis. Journal of Business Research, 67(2), pp.136-143.
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