A Review of Literature on Adjustment Issues of International Students

There is a scarcity of studies wherein a critical review or synthesis exists on the adjustment of international students with a few exceptional works. Therefore, through critical analyses of recent studies from various disciplines, the authors examine conceptual applications of existing models or typologies incorporated in previous studies, and redefine the nature of problems encountered by international students with a synthesis of study results on their adjustment issues: psychological, socio-cultural, and academic adjustment. Furthermore, suggestions for both practitioners and researchers are elaborated in the chapter. These suggestions include creating a new conceptual/theoretical model, emphasizing a critical role played by the host university, and tailoring support services to satisfy specific needs of diverse groups of international students within the specific campus context.

Drifting Houses, Shifting Anchors

Based on a new American college campus in Korea's Incheon Free Economic Zone, the authors in this chapter examine the experience of a set of students who challenge the traditional categorizations of “international” students and are often not counted in standard statistics on transnational student mobility. The authors discuss the changing nature and value of English-language education in this international setting, the increasing number of these students who already have international experience, and how these students themselves navigate a range of national and international identities. The authors also identify challenges these new international students pose for academic faculty and staff, particularly how to reconcile the different claims that students, staff, and faculty make about the meaning of being international.

International Student Mobility Trends between Developed and Developing Countries

The authors offer international student mobility trends between developed and developing countries. Global outflow, inflow, and net inflow trends are described to display an overall and dynamic landscape of international student mobility. International student mobility trends between developed and developing countries are compared from perspectives of absolute and relative quantities. Relationships between mobility trends and economic growth are explored using regression analysis with applicable variables such as global outflow number and global GDP, outflow number and GDP in developing countries, inflow number and GDP in developed countries, etc.

Epistemic Dissonance Encountered

This chapter is based on a qualitative inquiry looking into the epistemic acculturation experiences of the Chinese students in Canadian graduate programs. Guided think-aloud activities were conducted for participants to compare their learning experiences at home and in Canada through an epistemic lens, and to examine whether their preferences have changed after one semester studying in a Canadian University. Results showed that participants aligned their learning experiences in China predominantly with the description of the Realist epistemic views, whereas they associated their learning experiences in Canada with the Contextualist and the Relativist epistemic views. In addition, all the participants reported that they value the learning experiences in Canada more. Altogether 90 per cent of participants claimed that they have experienced some degree of epistemic change. Findings are useful for facilitating international students' adaptation to new learning environments.

Three Approaches to Competing for Global Talent

Although there is a growing awareness that international students are an important source of potential global talent, few studies have tried to relate the issue of student mobility to that of competition for global talent. This chapter is an effort to fill the gap. Particularly, it is aimed to conceptualize the major approaches to attracting and retaining global talents with respect to the role of higher education institutions. We have observed and characterized three models of attracting global talent, namely the Anglo-Saxon model, Emerging economies model and Continental Europe/Nordic model. The challenges and the good practices reflected in each model along with policy recommendations will help the policy makers and practitioners take a broader view on their higher education internationalization strategies.

A Mapping Sentence Mereology for Understanding the Mobility of International Students

The authors present a flexible framework for the understanding of international student mobility. The framework is in the form of a mapping sentence, which has been found to be useful to assist in the understanding of areas of complex human behavior. The second author has previously proposed a mapping sentence for understanding international students' issues in general. The present mapping sentence adapts this framework and suggests a series of important dimensions along which international students' mobility issues can be understood. The proposed mapping sentence in this chapter does not offer data or results from empirical research. Rather, the mapping sentence is suggested as a theoretical interpretative device that may be used to bring order and insight to extant and future research in this area. The mapping sentence constitutes a guide for researchers to design consistent flexible research tools to address international student veridical mobility experiences.

Outbound Mobility and Students' Decision Making Process

The author explores the decision making process of Indian students and factors influencing the decision of going abroad from the lens of prospective students. The study involves a sample of 362 prospective students from India. The author used a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data. The findings revealed that Indian students' decision making process involves four stages and differs according to the type and level of education. This study also provides insights into international student recruiters related to potential clients' choices and usage of different marketing strategies.

Pre-Departure Cultural Preparation for International Students

As international students continue influencing U.S. higher educational systems, greater attention is placed on innovative cross-cultural curriculum as well as international student recruitment and retention policies. To contribute research-based implications for practice, the authors introduces findings from a phenomenological study which examined pre-departure and post-arrival experiences of eastern Asian undergraduate international students who either completed a pre-departure cultural preparation treatment or received the university's standard international student services at a western U.S. research university. This study contributes a new understanding of one pre-departure online cultural preparation treatment that increased cultural knowledge and cross-cultural coping in addition to eastern Asian students' recommendations for U.S. higher education to improve international education's pre-departure and post-arrival processes.

Choosing the Right Pathway

The Eynesbury Institute of Business and Technology (EIBT) is a pre-university pathway institution to the University of Adelaide or the University of South Australia. This chapter contributes to improving the understanding of the various factors that underpinned EIBT students' decision with regards to choosing Australia, and more specifically Adelaide and EIBT, as their study destination. International student applicants are located within a complex matrix of influences that can be effectively represented by overlapping spheres of push (operating in the home country) and pull (operating in the host country) factors. As evidenced in the qualitative data collected from a mandatory online questionnaire targeted at newly enrolled EIBT students, international mobility not only contributes to the internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), but also impacts on the outlooks, subsequent lifestyles and future careers of the students themselves. Pathway institutions offer valuable partnerships for HEIs and this study contributes to that rather shallow body of knowledge.

Moving against the Current

International student migration in the southern African context is a scantily researched area. While research abounds on aspects of migration such as human rights, remittances, development efficacy of migration and transnationalism, the concerns, experiences and encounters of student migrants remains neglected. While in South Africa some migrants are exposed to xenophobic sentiments, little is known about experiences in places such as Zimbabwe. Employing Zimbabwe as a case, the author discusses context, experiences and the policy framework around international students from within the southern African region. It reveals the causes for migration, socio-economic experiences as well as exposure to life in Zimbabwe predominantly during the difficult decade at the turn of the millennium in 2000. In bringing up experiences and challenges, it highlights transformation in the enrollment patterns as well as areas for policy improvement.