International student withdrawal – the lived experience of five Syrian students on visa renewal in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

International students are not only agents for the internationalisation of a campus environment but also a crucial source of income for universities and a country’s economy. Thus, their recruitment and retention are vital and prioritised by university leadership and policymakers. However, scant attention has been given to investigating international student withdrawal, even more so on visa-related matters. This paper focuses on the lived experiences of five former students from Syria who withdrew from education pursuits in Malaysia due to visa-related issues. This phenomenological study found the absence of clear knowledge of immigration procedures among institution staff and unsympathetic treatment towards international students were the primary reasons behind withdrawals. These findings suggest negative student experiences affect not only current students but also potential students. Whilst the findings add to existing knowledge and future studies, the study marks the first in-depth investigation concerning the impact of visa-related issues on international student withdrawal.

KEYWORDS:

• International student
• withdrawal
• dropout
• visa
• student pass

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the participants of this study and declare that the expressed views are those of the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the None [Not applicable].