‘Part of the Community?’ First Year International Students and Their Engineering Teams

Figures & data

Figure 1 Collection of data.

Table 1 Responses of student groups in November 2012.

	International students N = 21	Non-international students (UK and non-UK EU) N = 87
Percentage ‘enjoy very much/enjoy somewhat’ working in an Engineering Team	80.9%	93.0%
Percentage ‘strongly agree/agree’ that Engineering Team had formed a good working relationship	66.7%	90.8%
Percentage agreed that being part of an Engineering Team had helped them to feel that they belonged in the School	66.7%	85.0%

Table 2 Responses to questions in November 2012 and March 2013.

Re-presented questions	Responses in November 2012 N = 21 (95%)	Responses in March 2013 N = 11 (50%)
Percentage ‘enjoy very much/enjoy somewhat’ working in an Engineering Team	80.9%	100%
Percentage ‘strongly agree/agree’ that Engineering Team had formed a good working relationship	66.7%	72.7%
Percentage who agreed that being part of an Engineering Team had helped them to feel that they belonged in the School	66.7%	81.8%

Table 3 Responses to questions related to communication.

Communication	N = 11 (50% of group)
During the year experienced communication difficulties with team mates	7 (64%)
Hesitated to ask team mates to repeat themselves or to give explanations when they did not understand	6 (55%)
Lost confidence in ability to communicate leading to reservations about taking part in team discussions/activities	5 (45%)
Did not hesitate to put forward views and ideas to team. These were always listened to respectfully	6 (55%)
I felt able to argue for my ideas even if they were different from those of the other members of the team	4 (36%)

Table 4 Responses to questions on inclusion.

Inclusion	N = 11 (50% of group)
Fully included in the social/working relationships of the Engineering Team during the year	7 (64%)
Made good working relationships with the other members of my Engineering Team	6 (55%)
Made good social relationships with the other members of my Engineering Team	2 (18%)

Table 5 Responses to questions on learning and skills acquisition.

Learning and skills acquisition	N = 11 (50% of group)
Gained skills and knowledge through working with the Team	6 (55%)
Team mates gained skills from international student	4 (36%)
Skills most likely to have been acquired as a result of working in an Engineering Team	Communication – 6 (55%)
	Discussion skills – 3 (27%)
	Critical thinking – 3 (27%)

Figure 2 Proposed model of early international student adjustment to team working.

Figure 3 Proposed model of early international student adjustment with three interventions intended to reduce the possibility of maladaptive coping strategies.