This project is for Rinker Center for International Programs at Ball State University to provide useful information to international and American students. The project consists of ten video interviews with the director of Rinker Center for International Programs and nine international students presenting Ghana, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Turkey. Each interviewee provides cultural differences between American culture and their cultures. In addition, the interviewees tell their personal solutions for coping with cultural difficulties based on their experiences in the United States or different cultures. The director was given three questions and the nine international students were asked ten questions.Each video interview is categorized under country menus and question menus designed with Adobe Macromedia Flash 8 to be navigated by clicking each menu button on a computer. / Department of Telecommunications

This is an auto-ethnographic study of international students at Ball State University, a medium-sized, state-supported institution in the Midwestern United States. I drew on my own personal experience, in-depth interviews with fifteen other international students, and participant observations carried out over a period of one year to understand how international students experienced life at this university. I used Social Identity Theory and the Rejection-Identification Model to explain why international students formed a tight-knit community, despite coming from a wide array of cultural backgrounds. Participants’ narratives illustrated international students’ experiences of rejection by American students, faculty, and staff; their feelings of devaluation, expressed as self-doubt and a tendency to overreact to life pressures; and the existence of a strong international student minority group identity. In view of the University’s strategic goal to substantially increase international enrollments, I offer recommendations on how this institution can promote a more welcoming, multicultural campus environment. / Department of Communication Studies

The primary purpose of this study is to outline the institutional structure and to present an historical survey of international education and the Foreign Student Programs at Ball State University. An effort has also been made to relate the Ball State experience to international students on a national level. To make this information valuable in a readily usable form, an intensive study has been made of the history, development and expansion of the international student program at Ball State from 1945 through 1980.Major Points of the StudyChapter One reviews the history of international students in the United States from its beginning at Yale in 1784 through the year 1980. Also this chapter discusses the United States government's role in international education and exchange programs which began in the early 1900s and promoted foreign study to the point that the United States by the 1960s was educating more than a quarter of the world's international students.Chapter Two carefully examines the history of international students at Ball State University from its beginning in 1945 through 1980. Discussed are the program's year of origin, its development (1950-1965) and the expansion era (1965-1980). Especially emphasized are the roles of five International Student Program Directors and the contributions they made to both the program and the students.Chapter Three provides information about the population of overseas students at Ball State, the number of students enrolled, and the region and origin of countries from which they came. This chapter concludes with a section discussing the reasons why foreign students chose Ball State for study.Chapter Four studies the academic experiences of international students at Ball State detailing their academic status, number of undergraduate and graduate students, fields of study and number of degrees granted.Chapter Five reviews the status of foreign students after graduation. It provides information on the number of students who returned to their home countries, the number of students who continued their education and the students who remained permanently in the United States. Also this chapter discusses the value that American education and training had for Ball State international students. The chapter concludes with a section on Ball State contacts and relationship with its foreign alumni.

The purpose of this embedded case study was to describe the academic experiences of international graduate students at Ball State University. Purposive and snowball sampling procedures were used to select nine international graduate students for this study. Their countries of origin were Ghana, Kenya, China, Iceland, Greece, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Ball State University was the case in this study and the nine international graduate students the units of analysis. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed by means of constant comparison and cross-unit analysis. The findings of the study revealed the reasons why these international graduate students came to Ball State University to pursue their education, the students’ assessments of their academic experiences, and descriptions of their personal and professional development as outcomes of their educational experiences at Ball State University. The main reasons why the international graduate students came to Ball State University were, due to connections they already had with someone affiliated with the university, the quality of the programs offered at Ball State University, and through the award of scholarships. The international graduate students described their academic experiences as beneficial to their development in a number of ways including, development of research and publication skills, increased competence in the use of technological aids to enhance teaching and learning, and the opportunity to put into practice the skills and knowledge they had acquired through practica and internships. The study participants also expressed that they acquired skills that made them competent to perform in the areas they were trained, for example, therapeutic skills or team skills. They shared that they had grown as individuals because of the experience that they gained at Ball State University. In addition, some stated that their worldview had expanded, and their self-confidence had increased. The study discusses the findings in the light of the current literature on international graduate student education in the U.S., as well as the implications for future research. The study makes recommendations as to how Ball State University can make use of this new information to better market itself as a first class institution of higher learning, and to make the experiences of international graduate students at Ball State University a more appealing choice to prospective international graduate students. / Department of Educational Studies

This study examines the influences and factors that drive an international student to attend a specific higher education institution. Undergraduate, international students at Ball State University and Muskingum College were interviewed.The international students at those institutions had a variety of factors that played a role in their decision to attend either Ball State University or Muskingum College. These factors included location, academic programs, exchange programs, cost/finances, size of institution, family role, support available, and accessibility.A focused look at the students' background and the size of the institution was addressed. There was a lack of related literature on these points, yet the influence of these factors was quite important. / Department of Educational Studies