International students experience unique barriers to academic success and persistence. These students often feel cultural shock on a foreign campus, experience isolation both inside and outside the classroom, and encounter language barriers and cultural differences when communicating with their professors.
Higher education institutions can help students overcome these various barriers and adjust to the new environment through international student-specific services and programming. This report explores international student support systems in higher education institutions in Canada and the United States. Specifically, this resource focuses on international student programming and operations of the international student support team.
Create programming specialized for international student adjustment
At all profiled institutions, programming for new international students begins before the start of the semester. Administrators offer international student orientation, which focuses on helping international students adjust to university life in a new culture. For example, international student support staff at Institution C use their orientation week to help accommodate students’ basic needs (e.g., opening a new bank account, setting up cell phone service). To extend support beyond the first few weeks on campus, administrators at Institution B and Institution D offer ongoing programming to support new international students throughout their entire first year.
Innovative orientation practices at profiled institutions
International student support teams at profiled institutions also offer free airport pick-up or transportation for international students. For example, Institution E offers free bus tickets to campus to international students during the two-days prior to student orientation.
The president at Institution E attends international student orientation to address the group of new international students and officially welcome the new students to campus. Administrators at Institution E report that students appreciate this tradition, as many international students’ cultures value an official start to an event such as orientation.
At Institution D, international student support staff members introduce international students to the different student services on a day-long campus tour that includes stops at student support offices. At each office stop on the tour, a representative from that office provides a 15- to 20 minute overview of how to access available services. Through the campus tour, the international student support office at Institution D ensures that international students understand the various student services available and where to access them.
The international student support office at Institution C offers a two hour orientation for parents of new international students. The orientation includes multiple administrators, such as the President, the Vice President of Academics, and student services staff members. Administrators use this parent orientation to educate parents on available student services, so that they can support students as questions arise throughout the year. On average, about 60 to 80 parents attend this session.
Establish programming to engage both international and domestic students
Student associations and peer mentor groups at profiled institutions engage both domestic students and international students in programming. At Institution A, Institution B, and Institution C, opportunities exist for domestic and international students to mentor new international students. Peer mentors interact with new international students in on-campus events and help streamline in their cultural adjustment.
International students who had domestic friends, or a mixture, are more likely to apply for permanent residency than those who are only friends with individuals from their home countries.
Centralize into a one-stop support hub
All profiled institutions centralize international student support systems into a one-stop student support hub to ease student access to all support services. For example, administrators in the international student support office at Institution E oversee international student recruitment, on-campus international student support, education abroad, and internationalization of the institution’s policies and practices. By centralizing international student services, institutions avoid potential gaps in service that could arise from coordinating services between offices situated within different parts of the institution.
At Institution D, administrators developed their international student support office around the “three Rs”: recruit, register, and retain.
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