Supporting international students in UK higher education institutions

Abstract

International students make up an increasingly large proportion of the UK's student population. Whether studying at undergraduate, postgraduate taught or postgraduate research level, they require support just like home students. However, international students can often bring additional issues and complications for the staff who are supporting them. This paper examines the additional complications involved in supporting international students, with a specific focus on cultural issues, and will make recommendations as to how practice can be improved. Key recommendations include the introduction of greater support for staff who teach and support international students and the expansion of orientation programmes for international students to include topics such as current educational culture in the UK.

Keywords:

• international students
• support
• training

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the support and advice of Professor David Law (Edge Hill University), Professor Peter Larkham (Birmingham City University) and Professor Hanifa Shah (Birmingham City University). The author would also like to thank the students and members of staff who participated in this research.

Notes

* In this paper, the term ‘International Students’ will be used and will be taken to mean any student who is not a UK national. The term ‘Overseas Students’ will not be used as, in UK higher education terminology this term is generally used with reference to fee issues and only refers to students from non-European Union countries

Additional information

Ian McDonald is the Research Officer in the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment at Birmingham City University. Amongst other responsibilities, he oversees the co-ordination and management of the processes regarding the support of research students in the Faculty.