A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts (Counselling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / The major aim of the study was to document xenophobic experiences and meaning of non-national students at the South African tertiary institutions, so that appropriate action may be taken to ameliorate the situation. The results of this study clearly point to the fact that international students throughout the University of Zululand subjectively experience discriminatory practices to a certain extent. As much as xenophobic experiences have not reached the element of violence against non-nationals, it is unpredictable if these experiences will never happen again. It is apparent that non-national students experience most of the xenophobic attacks within the campus perpetrated by both students and staff members. The themes that emerged were inclusive of the language barrier, discrimination, aggression, negative attitude and abuse. Based on the findings of this study, and the evidence from literature the meaning of xenophobia given by non-national students entail a attitude, dislike, fear, difference, exclusion, maltreatment or ill-treatment and being unappreciated. Most of the literature reviewed concurred with the definition of xenophobia given by the non-National students.