Research Blog #2

Topic Idea
→ My topic has remained the same but I decide to focus more on the difficulties that international students may face during they are studying abroad at American Universities. The main difficulties affecting international students at American University are the language barrier, cultural differences, depression and anxiety, and financial issues.

Key Terms & Online Resources
→ "International Students", "Trump Administration Policy", and "Extended Processing Time" are the main key that is closely tied to the immigration policy. The United States is still a top destination for immigrants, containing about 20% of the world's immigrants population. However, immigrant restrictions are being harsh for immigrants to have unexpected denials and extended processing time to get the visas which are causing anxiety for students who have done everything for starting new lives in the United States.

Article about Studying Abroad 
→ https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Chinese-Mothers-American/231239 
This article seems to be important because it talks about the American dream of Chinese parents. I could capture the sacrifices and responsibility of the students and their parents. The decision they made to send a child across the globe for better education and life is a big decision that comes with responsibility and fear. Despite the difficult decision, any parents are willing to make a sacrifice for their children to have a better future. 

Additional Topics During Research 
→ One of the topics I have found is about the recruitment of international student-especially Chinese. In the US alone, there are now six times more Chinese students than there were just two decades ago. They account for one-third of all international students and contributed nearly $14 billion to the US economy in 2017. Many international students decided to live in the US due to the trend of studying abroad and universities, English-speaking countries have been admitting more international students because they need revenue. As funding for state university was in decline and the recession made things much worse, state universities were forced to find revenue elsewhere which was to target international students. Since I can relate to this topic as an international student, I think that I am privileged to study abroad and this is a great opportunity for real-life education because spending more time getting to know every part of the university and interacting with people of a different culture and ethnicity is a valuable experience to have.

Resources that I did not Cover
→ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/education/money-troubles-add-to-students-burden-before-graduation-study-finds.html
This article talks about the stress that most international students face, financial worries. Since college tuition has tripled over the last 20 years, it puts international families in a financially difficult situation. Students have extreme debt and loans to pay off out of college which led them to suffer from mental health, academics, intimate relationships, lack of sleep and facility problems. Students who left their country to study abroad may have the idea that they should give up their dreams but choose the path where they can get well-paying jobs to maintain their standard of living

→ https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/world/asia/for-some-foreign-students-us-education-is-losing-its-attraction.html
This article highlights that studying abroad is losing its attraction for South Korea and China. South
Korean universities preferred to hire faculty members with degrees from above in the past but the trend is changing. They said studying abroad makes students have a lack of local social connection which makes them hard to get a job when they return home. Therefore, studying oversea is no longer an advantage for students but may be an expensive way of wasting money.

Contoversies
→ As I mentioned in the previous section, some universities like South Korea and China are making the claims that studying abroad is just a waste of time instead of a good opportunity for students to improve their knowledge and social skills.