The Challenges Facing International Students in Higher Education
Module Code: PM501 2T
Class/Group: Group A, Class 1
Module Title: Skills for Study 1
Assessment: Final Essay
Assessment Title: Discuss some of the challenges facing international students in higher education and suggest some possible solutions.
Tutor Name: Kinga Maior
Student ID Number: 2060494
Date of Submission: Thursday 2nd May 2013
Word Count: 1,004
The number of international students studying in the UK has soared over the past decade due to globalization. Paige (1990) defined International students as those individuals who temporarily lived in the foreign countries and received the education as exchanged students. The main reason why international students come to the foreign countries is that they want to receive better education compared to their origin countries (Hayes and Lin, 1994; Marcketti et al, 2006). Therefore, international students have become an important part in the higher education and significantly increase the income of the universities in the UK. For this reason, this essay will argue that, the international students will face different kinds of challenge mainly focusing on language difficulty, culture barrier and psychological problem in abroad. The paper will outline the challenges facing international students and some possible solutions.
Language difficulty is a general problem that international students would face. English is a second language for international students in the UK and students who want to come to study at higher education level need to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. British universities mainly regard the IELTS as their entry qualification (Macrae, 1997:3), and an IELTS score of 6 (or less commonly TOEFL 550/213) is the common entry level if the students want to study postgraduate courses at most universities in the UK. However, it is not simple for some international students to pass this test, particularly those non-native students who have a poor English background.
Class/Group: Group A, Class 1
Module Title: Skills for Study 1
Assessment: Final Essay
Assessment Title: Discuss some of the challenges facing international students in higher education and suggest some possible solutions.
Tutor Name: Kinga Maior
Student ID Number: 2060494
Date of Submission: Thursday 2nd May 2013
Word Count: 1,004
The number of international students studying in the UK has soared over the past decade due to globalization. Paige (1990) defined International students as those individuals who temporarily lived in the foreign countries and received the education as exchanged students. The main reason why international students come to the foreign countries is that they want to receive better education compared to their origin countries (Hayes and Lin, 1994; Marcketti et al, 2006). Therefore, international students have become an important part in the higher education and significantly increase the income of the universities in the UK. For this reason, this essay will argue that, the international students will face different kinds of challenge mainly focusing on language difficulty, culture barrier and psychological problem in abroad. The paper will outline the challenges facing international students and some possible solutions.
Language difficulty is a general problem that international students would face. English is a second language for international students in the UK and students who want to come to study at higher education level need to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. British universities mainly regard the IELTS as their entry qualification (Macrae, 1997:3), and an IELTS score of 6 (or less commonly TOEFL 550/213) is the common entry level if the students want to study postgraduate courses at most universities in the UK. However, it is not simple for some international students to pass this test, particularly those non-native students who have a poor English background.
References: Burns, R. (1991). Study and stress among first year overseas students in an Australian university. Higher Education Research & Development, 10 (1), 60-77. Hayes, R. and Lin, H. (1994). Coming to America: Developing Social Support Systems for International Students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 22 (1), 7-16. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences. London: Sage. Lazarus, R. & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer. Macrae, M. (1997). The induction of international students to academic life in the UK In: McNamara, D. and Harris, R. (Eds.) Overseas students in HE: issues in teaching and learning.(pp 2-4). London: Routledge. Marcketti, S., Mhango, M. and Gregoire, M. (2006). The experiences of African graduate students in a college of Human Sciences. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 24 (1), 63-69. Paige, M. (1990). International Students Cross-Cultural Psychological Perspectives Persaud, R. (1993). The loneliness of the long-distance student. Journal of International Education, 4 (1), 42-50 Salzberger-Wittenberg, I., Henry, G Sovic S. (2008) Coping with stress: The perspective of international students, Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 6(3), 145-158.