International Students’ Need for University Support

Abstract

Introduction. The various challenges faced by international students encourage educational scholars and practitioners to advocate for the development of assistance and support activities targeting this group of students. The scientific justification of the study rests on the lack of empirical studies investigating the specific demand of international students for support activities organized by universities. The aim of the study was to find out the most important types of university support sought by international students. In addition, the study was to determine which university staff should be involved in assisting international students. Materials and Methods. The main research method used was a group survey conducted in the spring of 2023 at the Belarusian-Russian University and covering 96% of the entire contingent of international students. A questionnaire including 14 types of supportive initiatives was developed for the survey. In the course of the study, respondents assessed the significance of the proposed types of support on a four-level scale. The SPSS Statistics program was used to process the results. Results. The results showed that the main forms of support for international students were facilitating problem-oriented meetings and increasing extracurricular initiatives. In addition, international students perceived the support provided by university lecturers as slightly less important. Specifically, the following forms of faculty support were ranked in the following order: giving international students additional time to formulate their answers, optimizing academic assignments, distributing printed lecture materials, and facilitating individual consultations. Finally, relatively less important types of support were considered by international students to be learning a special adaptation course and being accompanied by senior students or faculty mentors. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of this study confirmed the need to improve the educational environment at the university, thereby contributing to the identification of precise measures to assist and support international students. The contents of this paper will prove valuable to researchers working in comparable academic fields and practitioners seeking to improve the standard of education for international students. The results may also form the basis for further research into the development of activities to support international students.

Keywords

• international students, adjustment problems, educational environment, supportive activities, assistance and support programs