International Students Face Three Principle Challenges

In the article, “Colleges Adapt to New Kinds of Students from Abroad,” Karin Fischer (2011) explains the increase of foreign students in U.S. universities leads to make more problems in campus and how universities are trying to overcome those problems and help foreign students to adapt to campus. Fischer explains the increase of the foreign undergraduate students due to the support from foreign governments. Fischer quotes Wesley Young, the director of services for international students and scholars at the University of California at Davis, to discuss that the increase of foreign undergraduate students especially requires more care and help than graduate students. While older students know what they need to do and what to do in U.S. university,

How to be a successful student? Different people may have different understandings about the definition of 'successful student'. I personally believe a successful student must be good in all aspects. A student who does extreamly well in math or physics but cannot write, read and use his own language and pass the necessary examination then he is not successful, vice versa. Moreover, if a student can pass all the examination on all subjects with high marks but doesn't have a healthy body, then he or she cannot be called as successful. The reason is simple. We have to use the knowledge we learn at school in our work. If we cannot work due to a poor health then all of the high marks will become meanless.

Why does international students tend to group themselves away from American students? What are some possible aspects that cause difficulties for international students to make American friends? In Karin Fischer’s article, she used the online questionnaire that professor Elisabeth Gareis conducted on international students in America to answer those questions proposed above. This survey’s result claims that cultural and regional differences affect international students to have difficulties when trying to make American friends. This research was conducted on various non-American students with different genders, cultural backgrounds and circumstances. Not even half of the participants responded that they have a good friendship with American students. Karin argues that students’ home region, university’s location and language differences took critical roles which made a barrier between international

As the widespread population of teenage international student body growth, many more promising and upstanding students came to America to develop their better selves. When the first year they come, the very different environment would be a challenge for this young generation of student who just left the protection of their parents and familiar teachers and friends. The adjustment of academic will be a fundamentally challenging for them in many different aspects.

Every year there are around 435,000 international students enrolled in universities around the UK (UKCISA). Studying abroad for a lot of these students is a privilege, however it can be a stressful experience for various reasons. There are plenty of challenges, other than language barrier, that these students face, like major culture shock, homesickness, and financial difficulties.

However, the change from home to college can be difficult for international students (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). While some international students find it easy to adjust to the transition, others international students find it challenging to adjust to the transition (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). Studies show that international students experience many challenges as a result of language and cultural barriers, academic difficulties, financial difficulties, medical issues, housing concerns, food differences, alienation, homesickness, lack of social support system, racial discrimination, and cross-cultural loss) (Akanwa, 2015; Guzman et al., 2015; Mesidor & Sly, 2016; Sherry et al., 2010; Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Tung, 2011; Zhang & Goodson, 2010). According to Prieto-Welch (2016), international students as a group are regarded as a main minority population in campuses

In her book, My Freshmen Year: What a Professor Learned About Becoming a Student, Rebekah Nathan accounts her experience as a teacher turned student and her finding on how American students and international students relate to one another. In the fourth chapter of the book, “How Other Sees Us”, Nathan evaluates US college students’ opinions on other cultures based on interviews with international students and their experience interacting with US-born college students. Nathan, through the interviews, portrays American students as oblivious to the world scene, lacking or misusing information about other countries and other cultures. Although her main focus is to expose the shocking way most international students perceive Americans, Nathan also

Cho and Lee (2016) created a study to find out how international students that attended colleges in the United States sought out information on the correct behaviors of life on college campuses. “Considering the continuous increase of international students, the main goal of this study was to investigate how international students’ information-seeking behaviors directly and indirectly impacted communication satisfaction with instructors and school-life satisfaction” (Cho & Lee, 2016, p.597). The researchers had to become familiar with cultural backgrounds of the students. This was an important variable to understand which provided light as to why certain students acted the ways in

In my school, I made sure to promote diversity and welcome students. Since middle school I became interested in learning about different cultures and languages. I was fascinated with the variety of cultures and how each of them differs from my own. The beauty of languages enraptured me, how each syllable rolled off the tongue delicately. The mystery behind the languages as I am compelled to listen to a language I do not understand. My interest in culture and language drew me to join Global Buddies in my high school.

In Nathan’s article, she keeps her principal focus on how foreign students interact with American students and the distinctive type of relationships that they build. It is quite strange to some of the foreign student’s that Nathan has interviewed about how non-committed American students are to the foreign students because American 's students do not socialize as much, and tends to spend more time alone. Furthermore, they will make small talk rather than being close friends or let it evolve into more. At that point, Nathan turns her center towards the difference between a relationship and a friendship between American and foreign students. She also discusses with different foreign students with different background and how they interact with their American roommates, and the relationship that they bond. In addition, American student’s family is a distinct subject from school but for international students, it is something naturally integrated into their social lives, which is why they care so much about their parents (Nathan 73). Furthermore, she discusses how many foreign students make comments about how different students look and the lack of attention that they give their professor compared to in their home country. Nevertheless, the social life and making companions in American can be quite troublesome for any foreign students. However, once you become acquainted with American students and get to be

Thus, many international students face obstacles in their path as they pursue higher education outside home countries. They face problems, such as different food, difference in living circumstances, financial issues, difference in studying schedules, learning styles, and difficulties related to language, culture, and personal barriers. If Indian colleges are going to include international students on their campuses, these issues should be addressed and

International students who come from different parts of the world to study with later hopes of finding a job, take loans to help pay for education ending up in large debts. This sadly is a harsh reality for students who come as international students into the United States. International students are not permitted to work off campus while studying at a university. According to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, visas granted to foreign students are prohibited to any execution of a job (Working). This can include any work ranging from working in motels and liquor stores to in some cases, on campus. Inability to abide by these rules can result in deportation or can affect the student visa and further permissions for a work visa and a green card. Making it incapable for international students to work off-campus, builds a financial burden on these students as well as their parents back home. Not only are these students burdened with thousands of dollars of debt, the currency exchange rate makes it tougher for these students to pay for their tuitions, housing, and food, without earning it in American dollars. Some students are fortunate enough to find and do jobs on campus, but only small number of students admitted in United States universities are hired for on-campus and the availability is quite low in comparison to a number of international students. This makes it difficult for international students to get an on-campus job and help pay their tuitions, as well as

Language barrier is a hindrance to international students’ adjustment. (Andrade, 2006). According to Andrade “international students hesitate to participate in class discussions since they have difficulty understanding classroom lectures” (2006, p.145). As an international student, I sympathize this fact, because Language proficiency is make me feel lack of confidence. Sometimes, lectures and domestic students speak so fast, certain topics are difficult and using advanced vocabulary. In some topics, I even do not know how to express with my own language. Therefore, it is much hard for me to discuss about the topic. It cause to miss classes and behind academic studying. Actually, it takes time the transition of adjustment, thus the students

International students face many different challenges when studying abroad. This is due to many factors. First, they are living in a country very far away from their own. The country they are studying at has a very different way of life than theirs. Further more, the laws in that country are much different than the laws in their own country. Due to that they face a lot of problems trying to adapt to this new culture. Me personally as an international student in the US studying at ASU, have faced three particularly difficult challenges that I was able to overcome through time. In this essay I will explain how international students can overcome tough challenges and situations.

Language is not the only problem faced by international students in the UK. To what extent do you agree with this statement?