The Challenges Facing International Students in Higher Education

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,

Rienties, B., Beausaert, S., Grohnert, T., Niemantsverdriet, S., & Kommers, P. (2012). Understanding academic performance of international students: the role of ethnicity, academic and social integration. Higher Education, 63(6), 685-700.

The need for higher education has prompted many students to seek further studies in international colleges outside their countries and Australia has become an academic hub for international students who mostly come from developing nations in Asia and Africa. The students, once they secure a place in this schools, they are subjected to a new environment which comes with different challenges. International students in Australia have become an integral part of the society both social and economical. However the students face a myriad of challenges before fully adopting to the new learning culture. In

They have to face new experience and new challenges in their life when they come to abroad. The first year of their college abroad is a litmus test for them, if they have a positive experience they will stay but if they have negative experience they have to leave. I had observed the issues faced by the international students over here as they make their entry to new culture and a new educational system. They have to begin a new life in an environment that is very different. For example simple tasks such as going to grocery store where the language is different and the products are unfamiliar. The education system in India and Canada is different as in India, more focus is on memorization and there is no practical work but over here, more focus is on problem-solving skills and self-guided research. Majority of the students live without their family which is very hard for them to live without parents in abroad. Their parents sent them over here with a hope of their family

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.

The emotional struggles that international students have are homesickness and culture shock. According to Ivan Sekyonda from Uganda, he appreciates the school faculties for helping him with going through homesickness and culture shock (Sewall, p. 127). Students from different countries happen to have trouble adapting to American culture that is more liberal. This inability of getting along with American culture due to culture difference causes homesickness which makes students want to go back home. Many international students seem to not enjoy their first year in America for such problems.

When international students study for the first time at a university in the United States, the first challenge almost is study. For instance, students’ communication and writing skills, the grades in each class and so on. When the student decided to study abroad, parents place great hopes on the students. Almost international students were having a bit afraid to talk with native speaker, when they first time at the university in the United States. Also, international students could not write really like the native students writing. At the same time, students must want to get a good grade in each class, but different countries have different education system.

Maureen Andrade article, “International students face academic and social transition issues in their first year of university” (P.135), so, students will face hard times at the beginning because they came from different countries which have different traditions and believes so, they will need time to adjust with the new environment depends on the student’s personality if he or she is extroverted or introverted. Accordingly, social adjustment issues present an obstacle for the international student; they face new life style, and sometimes the social support they get is less than what the domestic students get. Language proficiency can be the biggest obstacle for the international students, sometimes they feel shy speaking to native speakers because

International students attending U.S. colleges and universities bring valuable cultural and educational diversity as well as economic contributions to American campuses and their communities (Andrade, 2006). Internationalization on college campuses encourages cultural awareness which can provide beneficial skills for students as they enter the workplace in our globally interconnected society. As international student recruiting increases, research suggests that universities must become more aware of the adjustment and acclimation challenges international students face and provide appropriate services to keep them enrolled. This qualitative study of international students in a North Eastern Tennessee university, will attempt to explore best institutional efforts to boost student retention, confirming that additional recruitment resources alone does not guarantee international student retention.

Studying abroad, which has become a common phenomenon, can be a fun and meaningful experience. Many university students are interested in studying abroad because it gives them an opportunity to explore different cultures and broaden their horizons. As Mark Sherry, Peter Thomas and Wing Hong Chui argue in “International Students: a Vulnerable Student Population,” the goals that students pursue international study are often to acquire different ways of learning and to improve cross-cultural understanding, which helps them gain self-confidence as well as maturity (33). This experience turns out to be beneficial to those who study abroad. Nevertheless, when students are surrounded by a wholly new environment, many problems that hinder their

Education is a never-ending learning process that has always been a piece of our life. As education is a building block in our lives, we are eager to put profoundly into our education. Good education will lead us to the bright future. With the fast advancement of public opinion, we have entered an era of information explosion which the necessity of studying abroad has turned into a developing pattern among youth. Most of the students feel that studying abroad is better than studying in local universities. As the saying goes, “the grass always looks greener on the other side of fence.” In this way, I believe that considering abroad have extraordinary points of benefits.

The United States is mixing people from cultures all around the world which often called a melting pot. Also, American culture is exceptional, and might be different from international student countries in many ways. The number of international students attending institutions of higher education is on the rise in the United States. The overall number of international students in the U.S. has grown 72 percent since 2000, according to us news and world report. Also, the foreign student population rose from 547,867 in 2000 to 690, 923 in 2010. The international students from different countries such as China, India, South Korea , Japan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Moreover, China occupies the largest number and then India that 30% increase in Chinese student enrollment in the United States and 15 % of international students from India. Furthermore, the number of Saudi Arabia increased that there are 10 times more Saudi students in the U.S. today than in 2000, according to IIE. The number of students from Saudi

“In 2006 to 2007, according to the data compiled by the Institute of International Education, 582,984 students from all over the world were enrolled in American colleges and universities in a wide range of fields” (Carter, Paragraph 2, 2008). The United States has the highest number of students who are coming to study abroad than any other countries. Each year, the number of international students coming to the United States to obtain degrees is increasing by thousands, and home countries of these students are primarily India, China and Korea, all located in the whole different continent. But what are the motives of students who are crossing the sea to study? Their goal of studying abroad is to experience diversity and to adapt attitudes

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.