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For my final paper, I want to write something about an international student's college life. Since I am a part-time international student, I believe that this is a great opportunity to talk about my feelings of studying in other languages, my homesickness in the early days of studying abroad, and reasons why I got over my difficulties. People often say that they envy studying abroad. Studying abroad indeed allows you to look at the wider world away from your small daily routine. But, there are sorts of stress and challenges among international students studying at American Universities such as language barriers, motivations and benefits of studying in the United States, financial issues, and cultural differences. I'd like to dig into this topic since I've been through all of these difficulties.
For my final paper, I want to write something about an international student's college life. Since I am a part-time international student, I believe that this is a great opportunity to talk about my feelings of studying in other languages, my homesickness in the early days of studying abroad, and reasons why I got over my difficulties. People often say that they envy studying abroad. Studying abroad indeed allows you to look at the wider world away from your small daily routine. But, there are sorts of stress and challenges among international students studying at American Universities such as language barriers, motivations and benefits of studying in the United States, financial issues, and cultural differences. I'd like to dig into this topic since I've been through all of these difficulties.
As I shared with you by email, issues related to international students are really interesting -- and very connected to the privatization of public higher education in this country, because that is why schools started to recruit international students to begin with....
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Targum actually has published a number of articles that talk about that change, as described by VP for Enrollment Management, Courtney McAnuff. The most important to cite is from 2016, where McAnuff mentions the 2011 rule change (caused by increased privatization) that led to recruiting internationally at Rutgers:
"Rutgers Sees Consistent Increase in International Students"
That is where McAnuff talks about the critical rule change in 2011. And if you go back to 2011 articles, you can see the shift underway:
"Rutgers Plans to Recruit More Out-of-State Students"
I have had two students write on international students before:
http://collegeresearch201.blogspot.com/
http://bataffendy201.blogspot.com/
The first wrote about contract cheating among Chinese students. The second wrote on stress among international students, especially due to the uncertainties introduced by the Trump administration. Both were very successful topics.
Based on what you have said so far, it seems you are interested in exploring the way study abroad affects international students themselves. You might also think about their motives and reasons for studying abroad.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (which you can access for free from any Rutgers computer or through the libraries) has had a number of articles on international students. I have especially admired the work of Karin Fischer, though she has not written a lot lately. This is a great article:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Chinese-Mothers-American/231239
This is an interesting news documentary on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBQqLxj5OQk
An interesting source for current data is the Institute of International Education. Here is their latest press briefing and data update:
https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Open-Doors-2019-Media-Information
https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data
Some initial questions you might think about:
--What is the risk to American higher education of relying on international students -- especially to keep up their tuition revenue?
--The schools started recruiting international students for the money. But how well have they developed support mechanisms for international students now that they are here?
--What are the specific motivations for and benefits for international students themselves of studying in the United States?
--What sort of stress and challenges do they face?
--How is the campus environment and education affected by the influx of international students, especially students for whom English is not their first language?
One thing you might consider is interviewing some international students for your paper.
Most of the articles I have seen are on the Chinese student experience, because Chinese students make up the largest segment (by far) of international students, especially in the US. But it might be interesting to focus on the Korean experience, which might be somewhat different from the experience of Chinese students.
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