With wide adoption of on-line instruction as a new instruction format in higher education in the U.S. and the fast growing population of international students coming to pursue degrees in America, the exploration of international students’ perceived needs and expectations towards this new learning experience becomes critical. Chinese students are the second largest group of international students in the U.S., yet, studies on their learning needs and challenges in on-line learning are limited. This case study aims at exploring the experiences of three Chinese graduate students, who major in education and have taken at least one on-line course in their programs. Data were collected through three in-depth individual interviews with the participants. Three research questions guided the study: 1) How do Chinese students feel about taking an on-line course as compared with traditional face-to-face lecture? 2) How confident do Chinese students feel about their language competency when they participate in the discussions of an on-line course? 3) What is Chinese students’ understanding of the cultural issues as they participate in the discussions of an on-line course? There were four themes generated from the cross-case analysis. The themes were: a) preference of face-to-face courses over on-line courses; b) English language proficiency as a major challenge; c) enjoyment of cross-cultural interaction, and personal growth from the experience. Results revealed that: 1) Participants always have a preference for face-to-face format and regarded face-to-face interaction as an indispensible component; yet, since participants also welcome the adoption of on-line technology, they recommended a combination of two or more instruction methods such as an on-line method with face-to-face method or synchronous on-line chats with asynchronous discussion; 2) Limitation in English language proficiency is constantly a major challenge for participants as international students; 3) Participants enjoyed the cross-cultural communication with peers; and 4) Participants consolidated their knowledge base and developed the awareness of being a culturally responsive teacher.

With the rise of the knowledge economy and aging population, advanced industrial countries seek to address their skill shortage and promote national skill bases through highly skilled migration. As a result, recruiting international students, especially those at tertiary levels, has been integrated into national strategies to compete for global talent. In spite of the widely recognized significance of recruiting international students to a high skill economy, the uneven growth in foreign enrolments among host countries, geographically oriented source regions and destinations of the students, and limited post-graduate stay rates suggest important questions about governments commitment to attracting and retaining international students. A main purpose of this comparative study is to identify and assess specific national strategies and their goals of managing international student mobility. Changes in international student policies, in particular entry and immigration regulations, and the trends in student mobility in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom since the 1990s are examined drawing on secondary data. The results suggest that rather than strictly relying on market forces, nation states address and cope with the pressure point of skill upgrading in a strategic and political way. The management of international student mobility, among other national strategies aiming at a high skill society embraces a collective goal of national interest shaped by the political economy in each nation.

With the rise of the knowledge economy and aging population, advanced industrial countries seek to address their skill shortage and promote national skill bases through highly skilled migration. As a result, recruiting international students, especially those at tertiary levels, has been integrated into national strategies to compete for global talent. In spite of the widely recognized significance of recruiting international students to a high skill economy, the uneven growth in foreign enrolments among host countries, geographically oriented source regions and destinations of the students, and limited post-graduate stay rates suggest important questions about governments commitment to attracting and retaining international students. A main purpose of this comparative study is to identify and assess specific national strategies and their goals of managing international student mobility. Changes in international student policies, in particular entry and immigration regulations, and the trends in student mobility in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom since the 1990s are examined drawing on secondary data. The results suggest that rather than strictly relying on market forces, nation states address and cope with the pressure point of skill upgrading in a strategic and political way. The management of international student mobility, among other national strategies aiming at a high skill society embraces a collective goal of national interest shaped by the political economy in each nation.

This dissertation, containing two journal-formatted manuscripts, examines factors associated with international students' psychosocial adjustment to life in the United States. In the first manuscript, I systematically reviewed 64 studies reporting predictors of international student adjustment, which were published in English language peer-reviewed journals from 1990 to 2008. I summarized predictors by adjustment outcomes and assessed the methodological quality of individual studies. In the second manuscript, I investigated mechanisms through which acculturation influenced psychosocial adjustment of Chinese international students, by electronically surveying a sample of 508 Chinese international students from four universities in Texas. Specifically, the mechanisms investigated in this report refer to the mediating and moderating effects of social interaction and social connectedness with host nationals upon the acculturation-adjustment linkages. Results portrayed in the first manuscript showed stress, social support, English language proficiency, region/country of origin, length of residence in the United States, acculturation, social interaction with Americans, self-efficacy, gender, and personality were among the most frequently reported predictors of international students' psychosocial adjustment. The mean methodological score of the reviewed studies was 6.25 (SD=1.8; maximum possible score=11). The reviewed studies overcame selected methodological limitations pointed out by Church in his review, but show room for continued improvement. Results portrayed in the second manuscript showed social connectedness with Americans mediated the links between adherence to the host culture (acculturation dimension) and psychosocial adjustment. Social interaction with Americans moderated the association between adherence to the home culture (acculturation dimension) and depression. Findings from this dissertation have implications for health promotion research and practice. First, this dissertation calls for a revision in the sojourner adjustment framework to address the shared elements underlying both adjustment domains (psychological and sociocultural). Second, more studies are needed to a) examine macro-level factors and currently under-investigated micro-level factors, b) test theories that integrate micro- and macro-level factors, c) examine mediation and moderation effects, and d) systematically employ longitudinal designs and comparison groups. Third, health promotion professionals would do well to address predictors and mechanisms found in this dissertation when developing evidence-based interventions for international students.

Exploring the Relationships Between Individualism and Collectivism and Attitudes Towards Counselling Among Ethnic Chinese, Australian, and American University Students Compensating for reduced public funding, Australian and American universities actively recruit full-fee paying East Asian international students. University staff, aware of international students having difficulties coping with cultural and emotional issues, often encourage them to seek university counselling services. However, East Asian international students under-utilise Western universities’ counselling services. It has been argued that the Western concept of counselling reflects Western cultural values, in particular individualism. Thus the reluctance of international students from more collectivistic cultures to seek counselling services may in part be due to a clash of cultural values. Over a decade ago, Draguns hypothesised the existence of a relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity, and their influence on individuals’ attitudes towards psychopathology and treatment modalities. The current study sought to offer empirical support for Draguns’ hypothesis as it related to individualism and power distance, and to attitudes towards counselling. In place of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this study used the Triandis cultural concepts of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism. Using the Triandis Individualism Collectivism Scale (ICS) and the Tinsley Expectations about Counseling-Brief Form (EAC-B)questionnaire, the current study explores the relationship between levels of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism, and attitudes towards the roles of counsellors, the roles of clients, and the process and goals of counselling. The research is based on data collected from three cultural groups: ethnic Chinese international students attending Australian universities, and Australian and American university students enrolled in their home countries. This study is unusual in cross-cultural research owing to its use of the Rasch extended logistic model of modern item response theory (IRT) as a means of validating the data prior to standard statistical analysis. Whereas classical test theory emphasises the model fitting the data, the Rasch model of IRT requires that the data fit the model to be considered valid. Psychometric analysis of the ICS found its four scales separately fit the Rasch model quite well, as did three modified scales of the EAC-B. The IRT analysis also provided a means of identifying differential item functioning (DIF), that is, items functioning differently (demonstrating bias) among the three cultural groups. Using the EAC-B to collect pre and post-intervention data, the current study assessed the effectiveness of a videotape intervention as a means of changing within and between-group attitudes towards counselling. It was anticipated that ethnic Chinese participants, representing the group with the least familiarity with counselling, would show the greatest change in counselling attitudes as a result of the intervention. Americans were expected to show the least change, and Australian participants to be in the middle position. Based on the findings, the intervention did not significantly alter the participants’ attitudes towards counselling regardless of their cultural background. Overall, the intervention served to strengthen existing attitudes. Lastly as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of the quantitative findings, the study collected qualitative data from the participants and from university counsellors. These findings indicated that there was a general lack of knowledge about university counselling services even among those participants who were familiar with counselling as a concept. Participants, in general, expressed reservations about seeking counselling due to concerns of being seen by friends. This was particularly true for the Chinese. Chinese participants also expressed scepticism towards a non-Chinese counsellor’s ability to understand their problems. In reference to Draguns’ hypothesis, overall the findings from this study supported his model. The findings indicated that individuals endorsing collectivistic attitudes expressed a strong preference for counsellors who were direct, expert-like, and helped clients seek concrete solutions to their problems. The study also found that an individual’s expressions of cultural dimensions, such as vertical collectivism, were better predictors of counsellor preference than an individual’s cultural background. These findings have implications for university policy makers who are responsible for ensuring the existence of an infrastructure capable of meeting the needs of the international students they so actively recruit. This would include appropriate funding for an adequate and diverse counselling staff extending itself to the university community. There are also implications for counsellor education programs in recognising the link between cultural variables and client expectations.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Cultural differences in disability attitudes significantly impact perceptions of and interactions with persons with disabilities. This study explored the multidimensional disability attitudes of the international college student’s towards persons with disabilities and their attitudes toward educational accommodations. The researcher also examined the relationship between these variables and the following demographic factors: sex, age, country of origin, religion, college major, and level of college study. The study is a cross-sectional survey design. The effective sample of the study was 211 enrolled undergraduate and graduate international students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. These scales were used for data collection: (a) Multidimensional Attitudes Scale toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS), (b) General Attitudes toward College Educational Accommodation; (c) Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale; and (d) a demographic questionnaire. In this study, descriptive analyses and a multiple regression analysis computed to analyze all test measures and demographic variables. The results of this study provide information about the international student’s general attitude towards disability as well as the extent in which demographic variables may shape attitudes. In the first hypothesis only contact with person with disability was a significant predictor of the attitudes F1, 174 = 22.324, p < .001, R2 = .114. In the second hypothesis contact with person with disability and attitudes predicted general attitudes towards accommodation; F2, 173 = 7.101, p = .006, R2 = .076. All demographic factors dropped out of the models. A series of exploratory analyses was computed uncovered some potential demographic predictors of attitudes towards accommodation. This information may assist faculty and administrators to provide disability education interventions that may increase positive attitudes toward disability and people with disabilities. This may consequently enhance positive interactions of international students with persons with disabilities within and outside the university environment.

In this study, I conduct a program evaluation of the International Cultural Service Program (ICSP), a scholarship program at University of Oregon which provides international students tuition remission in exchange for students giving presentations about their home country and culture in the local community and on campus. Through interviews, observations, and quantitative data, I assess ICSP’s impact on the community as well as the international students who participate in the program. After highlighting the research-based impacts of ICSP, as well as the program’s strengths and weaknesses, I provide recommendations for program improvement. This evaluation demonstrates that ICSP increases cultural awareness among ICSP students and community partners, positively impacts international student retention rates, and ultimately contributes to promoting peace across cultures—among a plethora of other benefits. This study incorporates best practices in program evaluation, and I conclude by providing a critique of the assessment process and suggestions for future studies.

An increasing number of graduate students are choosing to pursue their studies internationally and Canada is one of the principal host countries for these students, particularly students from China. The push by many Canadian universities to increase their foreign enrollment has led to new classroom dynamics. Chinese international students (CIS) are at the centre of this change. However, getting accepted into a Canadian graduate program does not necessarily mean that the challenges facing these students are over. Often, they encounter social, cultural, linguistic, and academic challenges that as they navigate the unfamiliar environments they find themselves in. The purpose of this study is to use a conceptual framework based on the notion of acculturation to explore these challenges faced by four Chinese international students who have completed their Master’s of Education degrees in Second Language Education. My goal is not only to provide a platform to highlight the voices of these students, but also to create a greater understanding of the challenges they face for the edification of their classmates, professors and university administrators. The findings of this study demonstrate that my respondents encountered a variety of challenges during their graduate studies in Canada, both inside and outside of the classroom. Although numerous studies have been conducted that examine various aspects of the experiences of international students, none have used the Seidman (2013) three-interview qualitative method. This method provides opportunities for prolonged lengths of time to be spent with each participant, which therefore allows for greater depth of investigation to be reached with each. This study demonstrates how a sample of Chinese international students met and dealt with the socio-cultural, linguistic, and more particularly academic challenges they encountered in Canadian graduate-level courses.

Educational opportunities in the USA continue to attract thousands of international students from around the world. Their presence represents adjustment and other psychological needs that deserve addressing. The focus of this study is to demonstrate how pastoral care and counseling discipline can respond to the needs represented by the international students in the universities and colleges. I will begin by defining pastoral care and counseling as a discipline and how it is related to practical theology. Historical background of practical theology demonstrates that pastoral care and counseling is a part of practical theology as it is one way in which the Church seeks to meet the needs of humanity in general. Counseling is a tool which the Church can use to bring healing to the congregation as well as to the society. Because international students represent many cultures, the pastoral care and counseling professionals providing service will be dealing with pastoral counseling in a multicultural setting. In the study I will demonstrate that it is critical for the discipline of pastoral care and counseling to include multicultural counseling in training professionals in the field. The study will include discussion on competencies necessary for pastoral care counselors to provide counseling service to international students. / Thesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Practical Theology / unrestricted