Education, being a necessity for a higher quality of life and financial stability, with time the need for attaining higher education has been felt by people across the world. However, not all countries have the infrastructure to provide quality and productive education to people, which can help in increasing their long-term welfare (Tuckman 1970). To attain such education and for increasing their knowledge, people from all corners of the world, often migrate to several countries which facilitates such educational activities. One of such countries, with highly prestigious universities and a career-oriented knowledge dispersion framework is that of the United Kingdom.
Over the years, considerable number of people migrates from all parts of the world to the United Kingdom for the purpose of pursuing education and for gaining knowledge which can help them in prospering immensely in their career growth. The inflow of international students has been even more facilitated by the global occurrences like that of Globalization and improved and cost effective international travelling, which has made the world more integrated and inclusive, thereby making these countries more accessible to international students, especially from the developing countries, which often lacks such educational facilities (Schweisfurth and Gu 2009).
As can be seen from the above figure, a considerably high number of students from all parts of the world come to the UK in pursuit of higher education and a succeeding prospective career. The overall framework of higher studies and the percentages of the total population of the students in the UK falling under the different cohorts and classifications of the degrees can be seen from the following figure, which in turn helps in understanding the educational demographics of the country (Naidoo 2007).
As can be clearly seen from the above figure, the highest share of the students in the UK belongs to the first-degree full time group. Of the total population of students pursuing higher education in the UK, as per the data findings of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), in the academic year 2015-2016, around 81% were found to be having their origin in the UK only, while 6% were found to have their origin in the rest of the European Union. The remaining 14% of the student’s population came from the rest of the world, which is quite a considerable number.
The total student population in the country can be broadly classified into undergraduate and postgraduate students. While nearly 40% of the post graduate student population of the country came from outside the UK, the percentage for the undergraduate students was seen to be considerably low (13.5%). The total undergraduate population of the UK, who came from outside the same, can be seen to have their origin in different parts of the world, which is shown, along with the percentages in the following figure:
From the above figure it is evident that the highest number of international undergraduate students who migrated to the UK, in search of better educational and career prospects, came from the Asian countries, especially from India and China. They had been followed by the students from the rest of the EU countries (34.5%).
However, in the recent period several negative trends have also been observed regarding the migration of international students to that of the UK. Over the last few years while the number of Chinese students has been continuously increasing in the UK, the number of Indian students has fallen considerably (by 44% in the last few years). Places like Wales and Northern Ireland have also seen a huge fall in the inflow of the number of students from outside the EU (11% and 7% respectively).
These dynamics in the inflow of students in the country, puts forward the need to study the reasons and the features of studying in the UK, which not only influences the overall staying in the country by the students but also have considerable impact on their academic performances. This in turn acts as an indicator of the increase or decrease in the inflow of the students from all parts of the world to this region. One of the primary elements which is expected to have considerable implications on the academic performances of the international students in the UK is the educational cultural shocks and the stark differences in the curriculums and way of studying (Morrison et al. 2005). This can be even more prominent in the UK given that a considerable number of international students come from the Asian countries and other non-UK regions whose cultural patterns are strikingly different from the same.
As discussed above, due to the different cultural backgrounds and educational habits of the international students coming from different corners of the world, often the educational culture and practices in the UK becomes extremely unfamiliar for such students which gives rise to adjustment issues, thereby affecting the academic performances of such students. This becomes even more apparent for the undergraduate students, as they are more vulnerable and naïve due to younger age.
Keeping this into consideration the research aims to study the effect of the educational cultural dynamics on the academic life and performances of the international students coming to the UK for higher studies. The study aims to highlight:
From the above discussion, it can thus be asserted that the arena of exploration which has been incorporated in the concerned research is huge as well as multi-dimensional and deals with one of the concerning issues in the aspect of global educational framework. Therefore, to make the research fruitful and qualitatively superior it is crucial to form proper questions whose answers are to be found in the concerned research. Keeping this into consideration the primary research question in the concerned project is as follows:
What are the primary challenges perceived by the international undergraduate students in terms of adjusting to the educational culture and curriculum of the UK?
Keeping the above question as the arena of priority the other research questions are as follows:
As can be seen from the above discussion, the problems, which are being projected to be dealt with in the concerned research, are not cardinal in nature. They are rather ordinal and abstract and are highly subjective, depending upon the perceptions of different undergraduate international students, whose perceptions may vary. This type of social research, dealing with cultural adjustment issues can be appropriately and efficiently done in a qualitative research framework as quantitative research methods, being primarily cardinal, fails to incorporate the abstract and non-cardinal aspects of problems which may have considerable significance in reality (Bryman 2006).
Keeping this into consideration, the concerned research takes a qualitative approach in analyzing and interpreting the problems and the relevant empirical evidences. For the purpose of collecting data, the research targets to conduct in depth interviews with the relevant international students in the UK, in order to incorporate their personal perceptions regarding the problems faced by them. The research aims to work with primary data due to the authenticity and lack of biasness of such data.
The research claims significance in the contemporary scenario as it targets to highlight the effects of educational cultural shocks on the academic performance of the international students in the UK. This is not only important for the welfare of the students but also for the universities and the educational framework of the UK itself as a lot of the inflow of foreign students depend on the level of comfort they are entitled to receive in these countries while pursuing higher studies.
There exists a huge amount of literary works and works based on empirical evidences, regarding the aspect of cultural shocks as a whole, which are especially experienced by individuals while migrating from one country to other. These shocks have implications on the overall life of the individuals as well as on the purpose for which they tend to come and settle in foreign countries. In this context, this section of the project tries to explore the literary evidences present regarding the aspects of the educational cultural shocks and their implications on the academic performances of the individuals, emphasizing especially on the educational environment of the UK.
Marx (2011), in her elaborate literary work, puts forward cultural shock as one of the primary issues of concern in the constantly integrating global framework. According to the author, the reaction of people while encountering an entirely new and unknown cultural framework is often broadly described as the cultural shock, with its implications being present in all the aspects of the lives of the concerned individuals. According to the author, after the initial phase of surprise, the problem of cultural shock can often lead to symptoms among the individuals, which includes isolation, feeling of awkwardness, confusion, tension, depression, self-withdrawal from interactions and activities, reduction of ability or eagerness to perform, loneliness, frustration and also exhilaration.
There are many theories exiting in the contemporary period, regarding the issues of cultural shocks in the different aspects of human life, which includes educational aspects too, especially when a person migrates from one country to another, with the two countries having considerably different cultures and way of living. One of the primary and most comprehensive theoretical frameworks is put forward by Oberg (1960). Oberg puts forward the explanation of cultural shock in four stages in his model, with the stages being primarily- the honeymoon stage, the stage of cultural shock, the phase of recovery and finally the adjustment stage.
Supported by the empirical findings in the works of Furnham and Bochner (1982), this model asserts that in the honeymoon period, the students who are migrating to the new country remain excited and extremely ambitious, with high hopes and dreams in their eyes. They try to take all the aspects in the new environment extremely positively and try to ignore any complex issue. However, after the honeymoon period is over, soon the problems in the new cultural environment start coming in front of their eyes and with several unpleasant experiences, the cultural shock sets in which starts triggering negative emotions in the students. In many cases, the feeling of hostility and isolation becomes so huge that the students even start considering their decision to move to a foreign country for higher education to be a faulty decision and self-guilt thrives in among them. This phase is followed by a recovery phase in which the students starts compromising and adjusting between their expectations and the reality which they face. In this phase the students start understanding that they need to adjust and incorporate the new cultural patterns and the new way of living and concentrate on their greater goals of succeeding in their studies and long term objectives, which in turn leads to the final stage of adjustment. Here, the students start recognizing the new environment and face the challenges by devising new ways and incorporating new habits to cope up with the situations (Chapdelaine and Alexitch 2004).
A similar theoretical framework provided by Lysgaand (1955) augments the above theory of Oberg. Based on the empirical evidences of the Norwegian students with Fulbright Grants visiting the USA, the author argues that while moving to different countries the individuals are ought to face different cultural and living patterns, which needs a prolonged adaptation process on part of the individuals. Lysgaand, proposes a u-shaped curve in depicting this adaptation process of the individuals, which is also supported by the works of Wintre et al. (2015). The latter tries to present the views put forward by the former graphically, which is as follows:
Keeping into consideration the significance and implications of the cultural shocks in every aspect of human life, Zhou et al. (2008), highlights the presence of such shocks and adaptation procedures in the educational scenarios too, especially in the cases where students from one country migrates to another culturally diverse country for the sake of attaining higher educations. However, their assertions are primarily theoretical and they do not work much on identifying the real problems regarding educational acculturation.
There are several scholarly works existing in the contemporary literary scenario which try to elaborate the issues and hurdles which the international students coming to the UK from different corners of the world, face, in the aspect of the educational acculturation. According to Gu (2009), the primary and one of the most significant cultural shocks experienced by many of the immigrating students in the UK is that of the language barrier. According to the author, there are many international students in the UK come from countries like China and other Asian parts. Students also come from countries like France, Germany and Russia. Not all of them are equally accustomed with speaking and writing fluent UK English. Often knowing English is not sufficient also as different phrases of English can have different meanings in different parts of the world. This creates considerable communication problems for the students in the classrooms and with the teachers or peers, thereby emerging as one of the educational culture shocks for the students, hampering their academic performances.
Apart from the language barrier and communication problems arising out of it, several other educational culture shocks are highlighted in the elaborate and empirically supported works of Harrison and Peacock (2010). According to the authors, one of the most commonly faced challenges by the international students migrating to the UK for higher studies in this aspect, is the problem of academic shocks. According to the authors, the academic shocks broadly include issues like different modes of teaching and difference in the relationships between the teachers and the students, which these migrating students are not expected to know beforehand. The forms of assessment and marking of a student’s performance may also be strikingly different from what the students had been previously accustomed (Kelly and Moogan 2012).
All these together often makes it confusing and frustrating for the international students as they struggle to find their ways to work out and to understand how to proceed and what methods of studying to adopt in the new environment to come out with flying colors. Their insecurities are often aggravated when they see that their peers (especially those having their origin in the UK only) are doing much better than them. From this comes a sense of isolation and self-loathing, which is immensely harmful for the students’ academic as well as career graph (Sonn, Bishop and Humphries 2000).
One of the primary cultural models, which can be related to the plight of the international students in the UK, is that of the Cultural Dichotomy Model, as suggested by Hofstede (1993). The theoretical assertions of the author can be diagrammatically shown as follows:
As per the assertions of the author, the countries and their overall cultural patterns vary according to the above-mentioned dimensions though the magnitude of variation can differ. This, in its turn also has considerable impacts on the cultural shocks experienced by the international students in the educational aspects, as has been put forward by many scholars.
Brown (2008) argues that often the individuals who move from one country to another for the purpose of higher studies encounter cultural shock due to the presence of huge differences in one or more of the cultural dimensions, which have been put forward by Hofstede. According to the author, the international students sacrifice their residency and other privileges to come to other countries where they often fall in the category of minorities and have to adjust in all the aspects of life. With the newfound freedom come new challenges from which they used to be guarded in the home countries. All these create a cultural shock for the students, especially those who migrate at a young and impressionable age.
Apart from the above stated problems Crawford and Wang (2016), asserts that there are also aspects of violence and crimes in the educational campus and the international students are also often faced with the issues like racism not only in the overall aspect but also in their educational frameworks which in turn increases their isolations. The issues of negligence of their cultures and way of livings by their fellow mates also aggravate the problem (Ku et al 2008). These in turn often affect their academic performances negatively.
From the above review of the existing literatures, it is found that though much have been written and speculated regarding the nature and causes of the plight of the international students regarding the encounter of educational cultural shocks in foreign countries while pursuing higher education, there are no robust evidences of considerable work on how to address such problems (Adler, 1975). However, for a fruitful higher education and in the context of increasing number of foreign students flying in to the UK for higher studies, it becomes crucial to design ways to combat such situations. The concerned research, considering this gap, aims to work in this aspect.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be asserted that in the contemporary world, with the number of international students increasing in several countries, especially UK, there arises the aspects of cultural differences and problems of adaptations on part of the international students, not only in their overall life, but also specifically in their educational framework. Educational cultural shocks have considerable implications (mostly negative) on the overall academic performance and the long term career graph of the students (Anderson, 1994). Therefore, it becomes extremely essential to identify the causes of such problems and to properly address such issues for the welfare of the international students, especially the young and vulnerable ones. The concerned research, keeping this into consideration, tries to identify the educational cultural shocks, which the undergraduate international students in UK face, and also tries to recommend the ways in which these problems can be addressed.
Introduction:
This is the section of the report that focuses on the methodology that has been used to conduct the research on international students those who comes to UK in order to get higher studies. For this research, it is required to conduct the qualitative study in order to analyze the difficulties and the issues that the international students from different countries are facing during their educational period in UK (Anderson, 1994). Gathering the qualitative content is required so that in doeth research on the issues and the reasons behind such issues can be analyzed. Following discussion provides the information about the relevant methods used to conduct the study along with the explanation of participants who have participated in the research for providing the qualitative content.
Research method:
The research method that has been used in this case is interview. The major aim of conducting the interviews or using this approach is to get the detailed answers and the feelings of the undergraduate students regarding their experience during their education at UK. 15 interviews have been conducted by me so that I can analyze the content and experience of different country’s students in UK. This also helps me in analyzing the impact of their prior habits and culture on their adjustment patterns in UK. The questions that were framed for conducting the interview are majorly related to their prior expectation from UK, the cultural shock they have experienced, issues they face and the type of adjustments are making in UK. Gathering all such information helps in analyzing the content and answering the research questions framed in the starting of the report.
Interviews:
An interview is the process that is used in qualitative research.it is the type of the conversation in which various questions needs to be asked to the participants for eliciting the information related to the subject. It is the method that helps in gathering the emotions and feeling related information of the participants regarding the topic (Bhugra, 2003). A series of questions has been asked to the interviewee and his answers are analyzed to get the relevant information in order to answer the aim of the research or the research questions. Using any other method of research or data collection such as questionnaire or focus group does not help in gathering in depth knowledge and information about the subject. The degree of intimacy in interviews is very high and this is what required in this research to collect the relevant data. This is because he data that needs to be collected is related to the emotions and the feelings of the students which can only be explored at times when they give the answers without any restrictions or constraints. Along with the information the interviewing method also notes down the tone, behavior and expressions of the person at the time of the interview and these maters a lot to gain the knowledge of the feelings of that person regarding the subject. It has been realized that it is very much important to note down the expressions and the tone of the interviewee or the participant because it is the measure of the emotions attached with the questions (Brown, 2008). The above literature review part has been done for the same purpose in order to gain the qualitative knowledge and information about the topic.
Time span of 6 weeks had been used to conduct all the 100 interviews. The duration of interviews were about 10 to 15 minutes and it lasted for 6 weeks because it was conducted as per the availability of the students. I have conducted the interview in a very peaceful place without interference of any other person. This is because it facilitates the participant to share their opinions and views freely without any pressure. The overall procedure of interviews involves audio recording of the overall conversation and jotting down of the important points. The audio recordings help in analyzing the overall conversation later and identifying the results out of the information. Sometimes, I felt that the participants were moving away from the topic and at that time I have to ask the questions that can get them back at the relevant subject. Three of the interviews that I have conducted were telephonic and I realized that it was difficult to get the proper information from those interviews. This is because I was not able to see the expression of the interviewee which matters a lot in this interview. I have selected qualitative methods to conduct the research because I cannot be able to extract the exact and relevant information from the quantitative types of methods of data collection. As far as the other methods of quantitative data collection is considered, it has been analyzed that focus group can also be used but this method does not all the individuals to share actual opinions of the people. This may distract the members from the topic and create the mess as all the members of the group speak simultaneously and it becomes difficult for the researcher to assess the information or the data. Semi structured interview has been conducted because it is not possible for me to set the questions as every individual have different mindset and speaks different things at different time thus I have to maintain the balance with each and every interviewee.
As far as ethics are considered, it is very important to define the ethical principles that are related to the research before even initiating it. Before initiating the interview, I have told all my participants that they answers would be remain anonymous and this information is just for conducting the research and would not be published anywhere (Browne, 2016). As I also wanted to record the overall interview, thus I asked all the students at prior basis so that it would not be a problem for them. I have also provided all the information to the students regarding my research such as research aim, the questions for the research, and the major purpose of the research.
Random sampling is the method that has been used to select the sample. This is because random sampling helps in selecting the participants with any kind of baseness. From the total of 100 participants, 47 were male and 53 were female. Following is the table that is designed to give the crisp information about all the participants regarding their nationality age, course they are doing, etc. courses were mentioned because it has been analyzed from literature review that undergraduate students are more sensitive and face cultural shock as compared to the mature students because for their young age and age is also mentioned to analyze the impact of the same on the type of cultural shock the students experience (Bryman, 2006). The nationality of the students is also given in the table so that it can be realized that how the native place of the students can affect their experiences and the degree of adjustments in UK. As per the literature review, most of the students in UK are from China and India followed by EU countries. Mentioning the basic information such as nationality, age etc. about the participants is necessary because these factors have their impact on the mentioned strengths of the person and also on the ability to make the adjustments. Following is the table that gives the description about the participants who were involves tin the interview process and used as the sample for conducting the study:
|
Participant |
Country or region |
Age |
Gender |
Course |
Year of study |
|
1 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
2 |
China |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
3 |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
|
4 |
Romania |
25 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
5 |
China |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
6 |
India |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
7 |
Nigeria |
18 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
8 |
Nigeria |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
9 |
Kazakhstan |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
10 |
Pakistan |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
11 |
Pakistan |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
12 |
China |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
13 |
Brazil |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
14 |
Bulgaria |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
15 |
Portugal |
25 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
16 |
Portugal |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
17 |
Portugal |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
18 |
Portugal |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
19 |
Portugal |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
20 |
Portugal |
25 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
21 |
Portugal |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
22 |
Portugal |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
23 |
Bulgaria |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
24 |
Bulgaria |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
25 |
Bulgaria |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
26 |
Bulgaria |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
27 |
Bulgaria |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
28 |
Bulgaria |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
29 |
Bulgaria |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
30 |
Bulgaria |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
31 |
Bulgaria |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
32 |
China |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
33 |
China |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
34 |
China |
24 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
35 |
China |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
36 |
China |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
37 |
China |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
38 |
China |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
39 |
China |
25 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
40 |
China |
25 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
41 |
India |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
42 |
India |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
43 |
India |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
44 |
India |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
45 |
India |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
46 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
47 |
India |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
48 |
India |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
49 |
India |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
50 |
India |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
51 |
India |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
52 |
India |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
53 |
India |
25 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
54 |
India |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
55 |
India |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
56 |
India |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
57 |
India |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
58 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
59 |
India |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
60 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
61 |
India |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
62 |
India |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
63 |
India |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
64 |
India |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
65 |
India |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
66 |
India |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
67 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
68 |
India |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
69 |
India |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
70 |
India |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
71 |
Brazil |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
72 |
Brazil |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
73 |
Brazil |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
74 |
Brazil |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
75 |
Brazil |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
76 |
Brazil |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
77 |
Brazil |
22 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
78 |
Romania |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
79 |
Romania |
22 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
80 |
Romania |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
81 |
Romania |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
82 |
Romania |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
83 |
Romania |
23 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
84 |
Romania |
21 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
85 |
Romania |
20 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
86 |
Romania |
24 |
Male |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
87 |
Romania |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
88 |
Romania |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
89 |
Pakistan |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
90 |
Pakistan |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
91 |
Pakistan |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
92 |
Pakistan |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
93 |
Pakistan |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
94 |
Kazakhstan |
21 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
95 |
Kazakhstan |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
1st |
|
96 |
Kazakhstan |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
97 |
Kazakhstan |
20 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
98 |
Nigeria |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
2nd |
|
99 |
Nigeria |
24 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
|
100 |
Nigeria |
23 |
Female |
Undergraduate |
3rd |
As far as the above sample is considered, it has been realized that all the students are from undergraduate course. The students or the participants in the study were selected on the random basis and thus the students from each and every country have not been involved in the study. The major limitation of this sample is that only 100 students cannot represent every student who comes from outside UK (Chapdelaine and Alexitch, 2004). Different individual have their own capacity to adjust and adapt the new environment thus it is difficult to justify the result of this study on whole population of international students. Another very important aspect that may limits the answers of the participants or that my deviate the answer is the duration they are living in UK. This is because the participants who are living since years may respond to the answers differently from the students who have just settled down in UK. Thus, it is required by me to ask the students about the experiences they had in their starting months in UK and not the recent ones.
Perception is the very important part that develops the positive or negative feelings amongst the students to adapt the new culture. If the perception of the person is negative about the new culture than it is impossible for that person to adapt the culture gracefully. As far as the interview id concerned, it has been analyzed that most of the students from India and China were excited but at the same time had the perception that they cannot be able to accept the new and very different culture of UK. This is because the countries like India and China have very different culture than UK. When the interview initiated, I have asked the student about what was their thinking before entering UK for their studies (Chien, 2016). Some of them answered that they excited about the new experiences they would be experiencing and the level of excitement was more in the students who were entered UK in their very young age such as 21 or 22 but the student who have entered UK at the age of 23 or more have somewhat negative perception and less confidence regarding UK. Personal development is the aspect that has been discussed by many of the students (Church, 1982). Students suggested that the first perception that they has in their minds were regarding their personality. They thought that they can groom themselves if they go out of their native place to the foreign country. This is because they can explore more things and going to the country like UK which is very advanced can help them in making good careers in future. One of them that is participant 4 suggested that she has left her native place because of peer pressure as her friends were coming here so she also came. She mentioned that “I am the person who loves her own country and I always wanted to be with my people but because of my friends and family pressure I came here for study. I think I can be more confident of I am living with my own people”. This shows that she is the one who has her individual views and the views are very important to frame the perception. It is not always the external factors that affect the perception and the opinions but it is the individualistic personality of the person that matters.
Adaptation process is the very important thing that needs to be analyzed in terms of identifying the factors that affect the life of the international students in UK and how they are coping with the situations. I have asked this question in the end of the interview (Cleverism.com, 2018). This was my second last question to the students that how they cope with the situation they face and the experiences they are having in UK. Majority of the participants suggested that their adaptation process has started with the excitement of settling into the new culture and meeting the new people. Fear was there but the excitement was more. One of the participants from China argued that he was pretty excited to come to the place as he would be learning new things and lifestyle that has yet been heard by him. UK and its lifestyle attract every person and people wish to live the same lifestyle thus entering a country with such happening lifestyle has developed a sense of excitement amongst the students at the initial level of their entry to the new place. Three of the students that are participants 46, 57, and 84 have come up with the new concept of motivation and personality development. They argued that when they have entered the place they were very motivated with the positive environment all around and this has further developed their personality as an individual. Motivation is the aspect that needs to be developed in the individual at the new place to make the adjustments (Coles & Swami, 2012). One of the participants that are participant 56 suggested that even though the environment was positive but he has faced some difficulties at the initial days in adjusting with the culture. participant 45 has also give the similar answer that initial days were the most difficult days. This is because everything was new for them, the culture, the place, the people, and the language. Thus, it becomes very difficult to adapt those changes along with studies. It has been suggested that the lifestyle and mindset of the UK people can be understood with time and thus at the initial days, it makes it difficult for the students coming from different lifestyle and culture to adopt the things immediately (Crawford and Wang, 2016). One of the participant who was from Pakistan claimed that he was more interested in talking to people from Pakistan who aware already residing in UK rather than British Natives. This is because at initial days, it becomes difficult to directly interact with the people who are having different culture. But today, after spending almost 6 months, the people get familiar with the culture and the people gradually.
Another aspect that has been raised up by the students or the participants is the diversity amongst the culture of UK. It has been realized by the student from different countries that UK is the country with diverse culture and thus it becomes confusing for them to which culture to adapt. The process of adoption becomes very hard for the students because they do not have any idea and that how the other person reacts on which action. The uncertainty amongst the behavior of the native student because of the diversity in the culture makes the interaction more challenging for the students coming from the international countries. Participant 78 suggested different viewpoints with regards to the cultural diversity. She suggested that as the people are open towards diversity thus, it becomes easy to interact with those people because they do not react differently with them. As they are already living at the place with diversified cultures this they have the habit of interacting with people from different background and have the sense that how to treat others who are from different culture. It has been suggested that it is not that much difficult to interact with the British Natives but meeting your own people at the foreign land is also much more exciting as it develops a feeling of belongingness. This is because of the comfort of the culture they both share with each other. One of the students said
“I was not that much comfortable in the initial days when I enter this school but when I met one of my batch mates who were from China only that is my country, I became friends with him very easily and this also developed confidence in me to interact with others as I got the support”.
This suggests that having people of your own kind makes the individuals feel more comfortable to face the situation as the presence of the own people is enough to develop confidence.
It is one of the most important barriers that have been discussed in the intercultural communication takes place. The literature review suggests that language is the problem that has been found in most of the cases where the student went to international countries for studies. Since years the individual is speaking in a language and suddenly if he has to change his language and has to communicate in another language then it becomes difficult for the person to communicate properly. That is what has happened to most of the international students in UK. Amongst all the students I have interviewed almost all have argued about this problem and discussed their experiences where misunderstanding happened because of less knowledge about the language. Almost everyone who all is being interviewed has faced the instances where they felt to be very conscious about not knowing the language properly. Accent also becomes the problem for the people sometimes especially to the student from China and India.
Language has become the barrier because the people who have entered UK for studies have some different vernacular and national languages than English such as Indian mostly speaks Hindi and China people mostly speak their Chinese language. Thus it becomes difficult for them to interact all the time in English to the British natives. One of the participant suggested that they all have learnt English as a subject but learning English and using it as the first language to speak are two very different things. It becomes difficult to interact with the British natives as they have very different accent as well. The students who are from China have faced many issues because of the language barriers as they have totally different culture in their country than UK. It has been analyzed that most of the students have no issues in the cultural interaction but they do receive any support from the educators in terms of academics. It has been analyzed that they find the education pattern very different as the educators only interact with the students through assignments and no other interaction is there. Different student have different point of views regarding the difference in lifestyle of their home county and UK. Some of the common characteristic differences that have even shred by them were regarding the diversity in culture and language issues. Fast pace of the city and the life of the people also bothering some of the student coming from different countries like Pakistan and India.
As per the analysis, it has been analyzed that 12% of the participants were Chinese and 32% of the participants were Indians. Both of these group of participants are attached so much with their culture and thus it has been realized, these people have found so much of difficulty in adjusting with the new culture.
Support from university:
This is amongst one of the major questions that have been asked by me to the students. It is very important to identify the responses of the students regarding the support they have got in their initial days at UK by their university and even after that. This is because it is the most important factor that can help the students to survive in the new foreign country. I have asked two questions directly to the student that can give me the idea that how the students are feeling and how their universities are supporting them in their survival at the new place. The first question that I have asked in this concern was about their feeling regarding their experiences and the next question was related to the ways in which their universities have helped them or helping them in their easy survival or adaptation of the new culture at UK (Donnellan, Trzesniewski & Robins, 2011). It has been realized from the answers of the students that most of them were satisfied but two were happy with the support by their universities. This may be because they were not getting the basic needs but they were not getting that emotional supports and help from the university that they are expecting. Some of the student suggested that they would like to see more supply from their universities in terms of academics especially with the language issues. As most of them are facing the issues of language and accents, they are expecting that their universities should focus on providing English classes to the international studies so that they can also become familiar with the UK gestures and language. The universities have not realized that the language issues and accent problems are affecting the academic scores of the students. Most of the assignment that were given to the student in their initial days were written assignment but require surveys which needs to be done from the native population or sample and it becomes difficult for the international students to conduct the survey and ask the questions to the native British. They both find discomfort in making interactions. It has been analyzed from the answers of the students that 58% of them find the support only when they make efforts to look for that. The universities and the staff are not active in supporting them. They have to struggle a lot to reach the right place for help and this made their survival difficult. In the second question that I have asked regarding the type of facilities that the universities have provided, I have received one common answer from most of the student were the accommodation facilities in the hostels. It has been realized that al the student that were from the international countries have provided with the accommodation the university hostels and this made it easy for the student to settle down at the new place (Dunne, 2009). It has been analyzed that the hostel facilities encourage the student to be near to the academic environment of the universities. In terms of academic support, the students are not satisfied because there are no extra classes for them to understand the language and culture of the new place (Furnham and Bochner, 1982). When I asked about the induction question, it has been analyzed that only three of the student argue that they were satisfied with the induction or the orientation they have received otherwise no other universities have provided the proper induction program for the new students. However, the induction program for the entire student were same and there no special induction for the people from outside UK. One of the participants suggested that induction is the every important part of the initial academic days. This is because it’s the time when the students from overseas can understand the basic culture for the university and the education patterns of the country. The students who were satisfied from the induction were the student who has already been visited UK before and some of their acquaintances were already studying there. The support for completing the assignment was also not there for the students after the classes. It has been realized that practical implications of the concepts is the basis of education and curriculum in UK while other countries like India focuses on learning the theoretical concepts before implementing it on practical grounds (Furnham & Bochner, 1982). This also becomes the very big problem for the students from overseas as they were not getting full-fledged information about the theoretical concept and have to perform the activities on practical grounds.
As far as the cultural shock is considered, it is the very natural phenomenon that can be felt by the students who are coming from the international countries. It has been realized that most of the students have faced the issues of cultural shock. As far as the interview is considered, I have asked the last question to the students regarding the cultural shock and the advices they would like to give to the other students who al are coming in the future years to UK for studies from their home country (Gray-Little, Williams & Hancock, 1997). This made the students to share their stories when they first when back to their homes after a session in their break or vacations. It has been realized that the students have face cultural shock in many ways at UK (Gribble, 2008). When I asked the students about the feedback they would be giving to other students for their native place regarding UK, they suggested some of the common words for the cultural shock they have experienced. Some said that they describe the situation of initial days as discomfort. This is because they were very uncomfortable in doing things and interacting with the people at UK. Even the interaction with the teachers or the educators is also not much casual. It has been suggest by the students that they would definitely ask their native place students to do lots of homework regarding the education patterns and regarding the language and culture because the cultural shock they may feel at their initial days can demotivate them and can affect their academic life all over the period of study. The situations of the initial days have been considered as the condition of discomfort because the students from overseas in UK have the similar experience (Gu, 2009). They were not supported by the way they have expected the situation to be. The difference in the language, culture and the lifestyle develops the environment of discomfort for them to adapt the new surroundings and culture. Other students from the participants of the interviews suggests that they have the feeling of excitement in their initial days and they argued that they would definitely ask their native students to have to come up in UK without any fear and lots of confidence (Gullahorn & Gullahorn, 1966). The percentage of that type of students is 43%. This suggests that less than half of the people have high excitement level and less nervousness. It has been analyzed that this is the experience of the people in their initial days at UK that drives their perception regarding the educational environment at UK. The people who were excited to enter the new place like UK will provide positive response to the new students coming from their native place. This also encourages the new students to come and settle down to UK for their further studies. It has been analyzed that the participants from China were very negative in their response and said that they will ask their native students to be prepared for the worst. This is because of their bad experiences at UK. they suggested that they have also got the same response from their seniors who came down to UK for their studies thus this has made the perception regarding UK that the people here are not supportive and the lifestyle is very different from China. They were not open to the acceptance for the new culture and thus all the experiences and the learning they had here were bad for them. One of the positive feedbacks that almost all the students have mentioned was regarding their development of the personality. Al the students suggested that they will definitely give positive feedback reading the aspects of personality development because they have developed their personality and confidence after coming to UK. They have gained knowledge of mew technology and get updated in every aspect of their life whether it is personal or academic. The local people at UK are very advanced as per the overseas students and thus they have great opportunities to learn various things from them. It has been analyzed that most of the students are I favor of the fact that they have improved their personality and learn many new things that can help the in their future career. Despite of the fact that they were not comfortable with the situation, they have learned that how to deal with the unfavorable situations and this helps them to face the issues in their future career life.
It has been analyzed that different students have different thinking process and thus have different ways of making adjustments in the new environment. I have also asked one of the questions to the students regarding what are their strategies to cope with the situation and making adjustments in the new environment and culture. Several options has been given to the students such as keeping in touch with the family and friends for emotional support, joining the international student’s societies to be linked with the native culture and environment, making friends from the local students or finding services at the campus to support other international students. I have provided them the chance to share their views and other strategies they have been using for coping with the situations. Some of the other options that the participants have given include attending the English classes and having casual meetings with the local people to know them more. The students suggested that attending the classes for English have supported them a lot in making adjustments in the environment of UK. It has been realized that most of the students were suggested that keeping in touch with the family and friends give the confidence to face the issue in the international land. The students from India has argued about this option a lot and suggested that this is the best option for coping. This is because Indians are more attached to their motherland and thus misses their parents and relatives a lot at the foreign land. Even the Chinese have similar feeling as they are also associated very much with their own culture and thus find it difficult to adjust with the new culture. The student who has suggested the approach of joining any international society argued that this is the best way to mix up with the people who are from your place so that you can get the confidence to survive at the foreign land. This can be one of the best ways because these societies help the students to meet the people who are from their land and have similar equations. It is possible that they may understand each other well and get the confidence to interact with the native people as well. Sometimes, students alone can feel neglected but if they are with someone of their own kind than they feel supported and thus it helps them to live easier life at the foreign land. As UK is the place with diversified culture thus it is difficult to stereotype the people and develop that behavior. It becomes difficult to judge that which person react how on which situations and this makes it challenging for the foreign students to deal with the UK native people. Making adjustments is very important when the student from different countries goes to the foreign country for education. It is not only the adjustments in personal life but also in academic life as the education system of the new county is very different from the native countries. UK is the country with very different education system and thus doing homework and learning about the things prior to going to the UK helps them in adopting the system easily because if they won’t be able to adjust and adopt the education system, it affects their academic performance in future.
As per the analysis, it has been analyzed that it is the support from the host country that can develop a feeling of motivation amongst the people and also supports the people to make the adjustments in order to survive at the new place.
This is the part of the report that focuses on linking the results of the interviews and the evidences that are claimed in the literature review. It is the chapter of the research that is very much important as it hells in finding out the conclusion of the overall research.
The major purpose of this research was to identify the perception of the international undergraduate students studying in UK regarding the issues they are facing I the foreign country because of the difference in culture and education pattern. The undergraduate students are taken as the sample to conduct the research because of their young age. Young age people are more vulnerable to the issues because they are more likely to be dependent o their parents and elders in the native place and are not mature enough to handle the situations of cross cultural issues. The research has found that the undergraduate students experience many situation there are not favorable for them in UK in terms of academics and personal life. This may have developed the feeling of dis satisfaction amongst the international undergraduate students studying in UK universities. Apparently, some of the students suggest that being with the pope who is from similar cultural background is easy as compared to be with the people or the students who are from different cultural background. It has been reported that being with the similar cultural background people helps in developing confidence to face the uncertainties at the new place with new people. It is not the case found with every student. Some of the students have provided positive feedback in the interviews and suggested that there were no issues in managing the situation at the international country for survival and for academics. All these things seem exciting for them as they get to learn new things and upgraded their lifestyle as per the lifestyle of UK people. Following discussion provides the information about the moment or the factors that have created the negative or the positive perspective of the students regarding UK universities and lifestyle of UK. The discussion focuses on the perception, cultural shock felt by the students, demotivation at the moments and the approaches that have been used by the student to cope with the situations there. It ends with the discussion of results of the interviews.
When any of the individual or the undergraduate students moves to the different country for their further studies, they need a motivation to accept the different culture and lifestyle. As far as this research is considered, it has been analyzed that the lifestyle of the UK students and the education pattern of UK universities have attracted and motivated the students from different countries to come and settle down in UK for their further studies. Travelling to UK sounds very exciting for the young undergraduate students. This is because they have just grown up and get the chance to live alone at a new place with more freedom as compared to their native country. It’s very natural that these students feel excited and curious about the new city and the thought of living alone at the country like UK develops a feeling of excitement in those undergraduate students. One of the most important factors that attract the student of different countries to come to UK is the prestigious and famous universities at the place. As per the literature, it has been observed that the inflow of the students in UK is experiencing a dynamic fluctuation snow and then. These dynamics in the inflow of students in the country, puts forward the need to study the reasons and the features of studying in the UK, which not only influences the overall staying in the country by the students but also have considerable impact on their academic performances. This in turn acts as an indicator of the increase or decrease in the inflow of the students from all parts of the world to this region. One of the primary elements which are expected to have considerable implications on the academic performances of the international students in the UK is the educational cultural shocks and the stark differences in the curriculums and way of studying (Morrison et al. 2005). This can be even more prominent in the UK given that a considerable number of international students come from the Asian countries and other non-UK regions whose cultural patterns are strikingly different from the same.
Although, there are many differences in the culture and the educational patterns of the countries but undergraduate students are still coming to UK for higher studies. This may be because of the opportunities that are available at the place is higher as compared to other places. UK is the place where universities focus on investing more on graduate and training schemes. This motivation amongst the students can reduce the negative thoughts and opinions regarding leaving the native country and develop a feeling of motivation in the undergraduate students. Confidence is the factors motivation is the element that is very important in order to achieve success in life. It is required at very point of life to perform any kind of the duty of activity. Motivation is also very much related to self-confidence. Confidence amongst the undergraduate students provides positive thinking and this enhances their level of accepting the change in their life. When the students are confidence, they tend to adopt the changes very easily as compared to the students who are not confident enough to face any of the change. Cultural shock is the element that is very much linked with the overall discussion of international education. When any of the students or any of the individual goes to the pace that is different from his or her native pace, he or she may feel cultural shock. Cultural shock is one of the primary issues of concern in the constantly integrating global framework. According to the author, the reaction of people while encountering an entirely new and unknown cultural framework is often broadly described as the cultural shock, with its implications being present in all the aspects of the lives of the concerned individuals. According to the author, after the initial phase of surprise, the problem of cultural shock can often lead to symptoms among the individuals, which includes isolation, feeling of awkwardness, confusion, tension, depression, self-withdrawal from interactions and activities, reduction of ability or eagerness to perform, loneliness, frustration and also exhilaration.
Perception is another aspect that has been identified as the factor to deal with the cultural shock. From the interviews, it has ben analyzed that some of the students had positive perception regarding UK and some had negative perceptions. The one who were positive in nature have adopted the new environment easily as compared to the people who have negative perception in their minds. This is because if the student were already negative then it becomes difficult for them to face the changes and the issues that come in their way at the time of settling down to the new place. Thus, if the students develop their understanding and develop a positive perception about the country, then it helps them to accept the things and the changes with comfort. The cultural change becomes less shocking to them. One of the students amongst all the participants of the interview suggested that it is not only the different culture of the native place but it is the diversity of the culture that makes this more complicated for the undergraduate students. This uncertainty results in fueling the anxiety and the stress of change amongst the students. After this decision of perception regarding the international land, it has been analyzed that it is required by the students to certain their mind sets and develop a positive thinking about the new place where the students are going.
As per the interviews, it has been analyzed that it is not just the perception of the person that matters but the ease of accepting the change also depends on the skills of the individuals. Some pope are highly social in their lives and thus welcome the opportunities to meet new pope and change their lifestyle while some people are so much reserved that they restrict themselves to a particular kind of lifestyle and behavior. The people who are reserved in nature feel more discomfort in gong to the new place for studies and the people who are highly social find it easy to deal with such changes in their life. It is basically the aim and the motivation level of the person that affects their perception towards foreign country. As per the literature review, it has been analyzed that the students undergoes a cycle of accepting the new culture that has around four phases. The first phase is known as the honeymoon period, the students who are migrating to the new country remain excited and extremely ambitious, with high hopes and dreams in their eyes. They try to take all the aspects in the new environment extremely positively and try to ignore any complex issue. However, after the honeymoon period is over, soon the problems in the new cultural environment start coming in front of their eyes and with several unpleasant experiences, the cultural shock sets in which starts triggering negative emotions in the students. In many cases, the feeling of hostility and isolation becomes so huge that the students even start considering their decision to move to a foreign country for higher education to be a faulty decision and self-guilt thrives in among them. This phase is followed by a recovery phase in which the students starts compromising and adjusting between their expectations and the reality which they face. In this phase the students start understanding that they need to adjust and incorporate the new cultural patterns and the new way of living and concentrate on their greater goals of succeeding in their studies and long term objectives, which in turn leads to the final stage of adjustment. Here, the students start recognizing the new environment and face the challenges by devising new ways and incorporating new habits to cope up with the situations. As per the interview as well, it has been realized that the students have initially faced a lot of issues in academics as well as in their personal life at UK but after that they become used to of the things and accept the changes gradually. As the interviews was conducted only with the undergraduate students, it was not certainly analyzed that how they feel after spending a year. Most of the undergraduate students were found to be frustrated and uneasy because it was just their first year in the college. When the adjustment phase of the students come, it has been analyzed that they the students who are extrovert in nature can easily get along with the new people in the different country while the people with introvert nature finds it difficult to do the same
(Harrison and Peacock, 2010). The students have to make different types of adjustments at the time of adjustment phase. Language is another major barrier that has been discussed in the literature review regarding the adjustments by the international students in UK. As per the literature review, there are many international students in the UK come from countries like China and other Asian parts. Students also come from countries like France, Germany and Russia. Not all of them are equally accustomed with speaking and writing fluent UK English. Often knowing English is not sufficient also as different phrases of English can have different meanings in different parts of the world. This creates considerable communication problems for the students in the classrooms and with the teachers or peers, thereby emerging as one of the educational culture shocks for the students, hampering their academic performances. When this concern was discussed at the time of interviews, it has been analyzed that most of the students are facing the issues of language. The major concern was showed by the students from China. One of the students from China suggested that he is facing so much of issues because the very different accent of English here in Britain. The native students and the teachers have very different pronunciations of English and thus it becomes difficult for him to understand the things or the simple conversation. This is very much affecting his academic performance as the teachers or the educators also fails to understand his accent sometimes. As per the interviews also language is found to be the very big barrier that comes in the way of the students at the time when they go to any foreign country for studies. Almost everyone who all is being interviewed has faced the instances where they felt to be very conscious about not knowing the language properly. Accent also becomes the problem for the people sometimes especially to the student from China and India. Language has become the barrier because the people who have entered UK for studies have some different vernacular and national languages than English such as Indian mostly speaks Hindi and China people mostly speak their Chinese language. Thus it becomes difficult for them to interact all the time in English to the British natives. One of the participant suggested that they all have learnt English as a subject but learning English and using it as the first language to speak are two very different things. It becomes difficult to interact with the British natives as they have very different accent as well. The students who are from China have faced many issues because of the language barriers as they have totally different culture in their country than UK.
Apart from language barriers, the literature review also focuses on one more issue that is the issue of academic shocks (Morrison, Merrick, Higgs and Le Métais, 2005). It is not only the cultural shock that demotivate the international students but the academic shock also results in demotivation to the international students. As per the literature the academic shocks broadly include issues like different modes of teaching and difference in the relationships between the teachers and the students, which these migrating students are not expected to know beforehand (Naidoo, 2007). The forms of assessment and marking of a student’s performance may also be strikingly different from what the students had been previously accustomed. This concern of academic differences was raised by many students at the time of interviews, it has been analyzed that change in the education pattern and curriculum has affected the grades of the students in their very first examinations or assignment. As UK is the country where the education system is more focused on practical implications and assignments rather than providing theoretical teachings and examinations unlike other countries, it becomes difficult for the students to understand the overall patterns in one go (Oberg, 1960). One of the students has argued that UK’s education system is very different from his native country India. India is the country with the culture of examination and theoretical knowledge and teachings thus students have the habits of learning the concepts of theories regarding the topics and they have never implied the things on practical grounds. UK’s education system is about practical learning of the subjects. It has been analyzed that most of the students find it difficult at their undergraduate level to understand the new curriculum and education system at UK. Most of the students at interview suggested that there should be some kind of teachings such as a full process of induction should be there that helps them to understand the basics of the education system at UK. he international students should be given with the social training and induction regarding the basics of curriculum and overall education system of UK by the universities so that they can get familiar with the things and it becomes easy for the students to understand the concepts (Zhou, Jindal-Snape, Topping and Todman, 2008).
At the time of interviews, there were some other aspects that were raised by the students which were not discussed in the literature. One of the major aspects was the approaches to deal with the situations. Some of the other options that the participants have given include attending the English classes and having casual meetings with the local people to know them more. The students suggested that attending the classes for English have supported them a lot in making adjustments in the environment of UK (Orth, Meier, Robins & Conger, 2016). It has been realized that most of the students were suggested that keeping in touch with the family and friends give the confidence to face the issue in the international land. The students from India has argued about this option a lot and suggested that this is the best option for coping (Ward & Searle, 1991). This is because Indians are more attached to their motherland and thus misses their parents and relatives a lot at the foreign land. Even the Chinese have similar feeling as they are also associated very much with their own culture and thus find it difficult to adjust with the new culture. The student who has suggested the approach of joining any international society argued that this is the best way to mix up with the people who are from your place so that you can get the confidence to survive at the foreign land(Pedersen, Neighbors, Larimer, Lee, 2011). This can be one of the best ways because these societies help the students to meet the people who are from their land and have similar equations. It is possible that they may understand each other well and get the confidence to interact with the native people as well.
These approaches have been used by the students because they won’t get the culture and the environment of their native place in UK. This may be because of the mindset of the British people and their mentality towards the international students. It has been analyzed that UK is the country with more than 20 nationalities and thus it is very difficult for the international students to identify or distinguish the gatherings. Some of the people in UK are very much helpful while some are very much kinked to their high classes. As per the literature, when Hofstede dimensions model has been implemented on UK, several results have been identified. Individuals who move from one country to another for the purpose of higher studies encounter cultural shock due to the presence of huge differences in one or more of the cultural dimensions, which have been put forward by Hofstede (Hofstede, 2001). According to the author, the international students sacrifice their residency and other privileges to come to other countries where they often fall in the category of minorities and have to adjust in all the aspects of life (Hirai, Frazier and Syed, 2015). With the newfound freedom come new challenges from which they used to be guarded in the home countries. All these create a cultural shock for the students, especially those who migrate at a young and impressionable age. Apart from the above stated problems Crawford and Wang 2016 , asserts that there are also aspects of violence and crimes in the educational campus and the international students are also often faced with the issues like racism not only in the overall aspect but also in their educational frameworks which in turn increases their isolations (Hesa.ac.uk, 2018). The issues of negligence of their cultures and way of livings by their fellow mates also aggravate the problem Ku et al 2008 . These in turn often affect their academic performances negatively.
The effect of cultural distance and the differences can be seen by interviewing the students from Romania and other Asian countries but China is found to be one of the countries whose students are facing lot more issues especially due to the language (Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert, Niemantsverdriet and Kommers, 2012). It is very important for the international students to have basic understanding of English as the language because it is very important to understand the culture and interact with the people of UK (Hofstede, 1993). In colleges, thegroups of students generally are formed with the similar nationalities. This tends to demotivate the students from other nationalities to enter these groups. One of the Romanian students suggested that she always try to get into the groups of British students so that she can learn better English and can communicate easily with them. It is very important to have this behavior and confidence in order to get success.
In regards to the provision of advices to other students of native countries, it has been analyzed that most of the students have suggested that the new students from their naïve place should work hard before entering UK for studies as it requires great homework frothier side to understand the basic environment of UK in terms of lifestyle and curriculum. This is because it is not only eth cultural shock that they have faced but they have also faced the academic shock which is worse (Kelly and Moogan, 2012).
This chapter now focuses on addressing the solutions of the mentioned issues in the above section. Interviews found that part of the students were not satisfied with the backing provided to fresh worldwide students. For instance, schools and universities in Northern countries and Britain, encourage students to be autonomous in their studies. Evidence shows that that is positively related to students’ performance (Ku, Lahman, Yeh and Cheng, 2008). However, this does not happen in other countries; students are not accountable for total decision making in academia. Students spend more time in class doing tasks required by teachers, have an increased workload, and self-study is not as present as in English universities. Although this research is not looking at academic matters or academic self-esteem, some students assumed that they received little guidance on university systems, such as grading, assessments, etc (Wintre, Kandasamy, Chavoshi, & Wright, 2015). This per se represents the poor preparation that international sojourners get from universities (Schweisfurth and Gu, 2009). Therefore, it has been recommended to these students that they should develop their understanding and learn English language properly before coming to UK for their further studies. Many students come through academic consultancies that do nothing or little related to orientation to students, in exchange for great amounts of money. This should not be the case, the students should get the assistance I their native countries by the universities counselors online so that they can prepare themselves (Leary & Baumeister, 2000).
Students are also advised to reach the best level of English possible before moving. This can be done through engaging in English lessons in their home country; being genuinely interested in learning the language; or communicating with other international students via Internet, for example. English language exams, such as TOEFL, IELTS and others, are not rigorous enough to serve as an indication of a student’s English level. Better training and assessment can be implemented for better cross-cultural experiences (Sonn, Bishop and Humphries, 2000).
Thus, this research has come up with the new gap in the international education system and that is the lack of support by the universities to the international students.
The major limitation of this research was that the students were not answering the questions specifically. The last answer of the students remains the same that is the overall experience is good. This develops confusion in the minds of the researcher that whether the students are satisfied or not. The students were not that much true to the answers because some of the students have faced the issues at past and no they are satisfied and already passed that phase thus that pain is not there (Lillyman & Bennett, 2014). It may be possible that some of the personal issues have not been shared by the students.
Secondly, during interviews, there could be a tendency for misunderstanding difficulties from cultural shock, for difficulties from an independent life. Finally, a very little number of responses mentioned discrimination, racism or xenophobia in UK. The truth is that these issues are still present in the society. These problems affect the variables from the research question the most. Unfortunately or not, it was not possible to explore these matters in the research.
Conclusion:
The research finally concludes that UK is country with diverse culture. The education system at UK is attractive enough and thus attracting many students from overseas to settle down in UK for further studies. It has been analyzed that most of the students in UK that are from different countries face many issues because of cultural shock. There are components that are caused by and affect self-esteem; as there are elements that are caused by and lead to Cultural shock. Having assumed this, the two concepts may or may not be interrelated; i.e. they are not compulsorily dependent of each other. Self-esteem levels can vary without conditioning cultural shock; and Cultural shock can happen without affecting self-esteem. First, the following paragraphs will analyses socio cultural and personal elements that are originated by Cultural shock and influence self-esteem – which for the main answer for the research question. Then, the chapter will terminate with the concepts that influence one or both variables and other important conclusions of the study.
Cultural shock, which stands for disorientation and frustration from being in an unfamiliar environment, brings language barriers, difficulty in meeting social needs, uncertainty and homesickness. Cultural distance enhances these issues, so students from distant countries feel Cultural shock the most, due to differences. Self-esteem is drastically affected; when students cannot achieve their goals and aspirations or are unable to fulfill their needs, self-worth and self-confidence drop (Lysgaand, 1955).
To avoid this issue, it is important to gather motivation for acculturation and build expectations before arrival. Social needs are built once communication and social skills are mastered. This can be done through English lessons and cross-cultural training. Most importantly, if sojourners focus on their personal development, it will be very much easier to avoid Cultural shock. Personal development is also keenly related to increased self-esteem.
Knowing that there is an organization responsible for students’ psychological well-being; striving to see their successful adjustment; and which remains supportive and available throughout the academic journey, helps to boost students’ self-esteem. When they realize that they have a point of contact in case of difficulty, their self-worth is automatically increased. Thus, getting sufficient orientation, support and guidance during the cross-cultural experience is considered a major factor towards minimizing cultural shock. The paper contributes with recommendation towards creating a form of continuous guidance to overseas students in London (Macionis & Gerber, 2010).
The paper dismissed the personality theory of acculturation because of its excessive generalization. The research concluded that possessing a range of personal characteristics does not make a person more or less adaptable to a new country. It has also dismissed references to the British culture, due to the cultural diversity in London. Additionally, an important finding is that individuals indeed feel the need to adapt every time they encounter a different culture and lifestyle in a new country (Marx, 2011).
Finally, it is important to refer that every case is different. Every international undergraduate student has a different experience that is influenced by a wide range of circumstances and factors. The success of the cultural adjustment depends highly on the student’s effort and willingness to adapt (Ukcisa.org.uk 2018).
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