High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

DOI 10.1007/s10734-009-9223-z

Hi-bye friends and the herd instinct: international

and home students in the creative arts

Silvia Sovic

Published online: 25 March 2009

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Abstract The crucial role of social integration for the academic success of home students
is a common theme in pedagogical research, but for international students the emphasis has
been much more on cultural factors and the challenges of transition. The findings of the
International Students’ Experience Project at the University of the Arts, London suggest
that this is far from the whole story. International students come to the UK precisely to
make cosmopolitan friendships, but are held back—by language and communication, but
also, less obviously, by differences in age, qualifications, experience and expectations, and
by the need to adapt rapidly to an environment which is new in every sense. While home
students surmount the challenges of social integration with relative ease, international
students thus need more support. By coming to understand the needs of these students in all
their complexity, institutions can play a key role in facilitating integration.

Keywords International students
Social interaction
Support
Social networks

Background

The importance of students’ adjustment to university life has been highlighted in many
recent studies. Their initial experiences are seen as determining factors in students’
withdrawal in their first or even their second or third years (Pitkethly and Prosser 2001;
Terenzini et al. 1994). For home and international students alike, the transition to uni-
versity presents complex challenges as they settle into their new academic and social
environments. It has been generally accepted that institutions should monitor this process
to understand students’ experiences and develop adequate programmes to ease this tran-
sitional phase. Orientation programmes offered to all students are perceived as dynamic

S. Sovic (&)
Creative Learning in Practice, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CLIP CETL),
University of the Arts, London, London College of Fashion, 20 John Princes Street,
London SW1G 0BJ, UK
e-mail: s.sovic@fashion.arts.ac.uk

123
748 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

processes that include clear information about academic as well as social aspects of
adaptations (Ramsay et al. 1999, 2007; Zhao et al. 2005; Pitkethly and Prosser 2001).
Studies in higher education have broadly focused on different types of adjustment:
academic, cultural, social, and personal or emotional (Zhou et al. 2008; Cassidy 2004;
Pritchard and Skinner 2002; Beasley and Pearson 1999; Ramsay et al. 1999; Gerdes and
Mallinckrodt 1994; Searle and Ward 1990; Burns 1991; Samuelowicz 1987). In the lit-
erature on international students, academic and especially cultural adjustment have
attracted considerably more attention than emotional concerns of students such as their
alienation and isolation in the classroom and on campus. The findings of Gerdes and
Mallinckrodt suggest that ‘personal adjustment and integration into the social fabric of
campus life play a role at least as important as academic factors in student retention’
(Gerdes and Mallinckrodt 1994, p. 286). In a recent American study Lee and Rice went
further and questioned whether all the problems centred around international students can
really be understood in terms of adjustment: ‘most of the literature concerning international
student experiences describes their difficulties as issues of adapting and coping, which
embodies the assumption that international students bear the responsibility to persist,
overcome their discomfort, and integrate into the host society’ (Lee and Rice 2007, p. 388).
Instead they challenged the host institution and argued that the emphasis should be placed
on the adequacy of the host community to assist students with their unique needs through
their services. Having examined cultural diversity at Australian campuses, Volet and Ang
similarly stressed that ‘the concept of culture learning—rather than adjustment—is criti-
cal’, stating that ‘international and multicultural student campuses represent social forums
for promoting cultural understanding; fostering tolerance of diversity; discovering alter-
native ways of thinking; and developing inter-cultural skills. Yet, this can be achieved only
if both staff and students are committed to achieving that aim and if intervention pro-
grammes are based on a sound understanding of the psychological and external variables
which affect the formation and social dynamics of culturally mixed groups’ (Volet and
Ang 1998, pp. 7 and 6).
The relationship between different support types (e.g., emotional, practical information,
social companionship) and the adjustment of students of different backgrounds and ages
was recently examined by Ramsay, Jones and Barker in an Australian study. Their major
conclusion was that the better the level of support, the more easily students adjust. Their
key findings show that ‘friends were the main source of emotional, practical and social
companionship support for all groups of students. While professional staff provided most
informational support, friends were also an important source of information. Together,
these results indicate the key role of friendship in first year university’ (Ramsay et al. 2007,
p. 259). In contrast to young local students, international students seem more likely to
struggle to find adequate opportunities for emotional and social companionship. This is
largely due to their language ability, the new environment they face, and the interruption of
their previous social networks.
The critical significance of supportive peer interaction in a new social setting has been
highlighted in various international studies. In these, it is reported that positive social
contact between the host culture and international students is reflected in better academic
achievement, a lower drop-out rate, better self-motivation, better usage of campus services,
less alienation and homesickness, a better sense of identity, improved fluency in English,
greater satisfaction with courses, and greater enjoyment of university and of life generally
(Perrucci and Hu 1995; Mullins et al. 1995; Quintrell and Westwood 1994; Westwood and
Barker 1990). Contact with international students could also benefit home students, not
only in terms of cross-cultural competence and general enhancement of their university

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 749

experience, but also in terms of future employment prospects around the world. In addition,
the formation of peer groups appears to alleviate psychological health problems such as
depression, stress and anxiety which are often associated with loneliness, feelings of
isolation and identity crises (Cassidy 2004; Peat et al. 2001).
Students’ social well-being should not be underestimated; identification with their
institution and their peers is perceived as a crucial aspect of students’ healthy and suc-
cessful transition to the university. Cassidy noted that ‘the development of social networks
at university tends to eventually provide an alternative source of social support which takes
the place of family and past friends. One might expect that social support would be closely
related to a sense of community, belonging, or identification with the university’ (Cassidy
2004, p. 340). Although the internationalization of higher education is supposed to place
emphasis on ‘students as central players in intercultural exchange and diplomacy between
nations’ (Lee and Rice 2007, p. 385), the increased numbers of international students on
campuses do not guarantee a satisfying social life, especially when it comes to interaction
with home students: ‘for some reason, as the proportion of international students increases,
both groups perceive their campus to be less, not more, supportive’ (Zhao et al. 2005,
p. 224).
There is a line of thought in some UK research that sees this separation as desirable,
actually calling for ‘less emphasis on the integration of international students, who will
remain in a host country for a relatively short time, and an encouragement to maintain links
with home, and form links with co-nationals in the host country’ (McKinlay et al. 1996,
p. 392, also quoted in Furnham 2004, p. 18). This is in sharp contrast to what many studies
are reporting about first-year home students, as well as international students. Effective
academic and social integration is thought of as one of the most important elements of
understanding retention rates. Wilcox argues that ‘in the first few days at university
emotional support from family and friends at home provides a buffering effect against the
stressful experience of being alone in a new situation, but as students develop social
networks at university these become their main source of social support during term-time.
Emotional support from friends provides a sense of belonging and can also help students
when they face problems. The type of support that students receive from friends and tutors
on their course is different from those provided by the friends in their accommodation, and
it is more likely to be instrumental and appraisal support’ (Wilcox et al. 2005, p. 718).
Terenzini et al. put the emphasis on high school friends, stating that ‘these precollege
friends functioned during the early weeks or months of college as a bridge from one
academic and interpersonal environment to the next. Such earlier acquaintances pro-
vided… important support during the transition. Friends perform this ‘‘bridge function’’,
however, for a limited period of time. As a student’s friendship network began to extend
beyond the set of high school acquaintances, the student developed closer relationships
with students not known before college, and high school friends slowly faded in impor-
tance’ (Terenzini et al. 1994, p. 65). It has been claimed that ‘the early weeks at university
are a time when patterns of relationships are formed which influence students’ experience
of university in the longer term… From a student perspective, one of the most important
contributions university led support can make is to recognize, facilitate and value the
development of friendship networks’ (Robinson et al. 2007, p. 15).
International students, being away from their families and friends, miss out from this
kind of ‘transitional’ support in their early stage at college, and rely rather heavily on
university-led support systems to help them to get to know other students in an informal
manner. It is hardly surprising that many studies on international students are preoccupied
with the notion of cultural shock in connection with students’ adaptation in higher

123
750 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

education, and ‘relatively little is known about the extent to which international students
are satisfied with their experience, interact with peers and faculty members, and participate
in a variety of other educationally purposeful activities’ (Zhao et al. 2005, p. 211). This has
been flavoured by theoretical models which rest on the premise that culture affects indi-
vidual behaviour and thought; the clear-cut distinction between individualistic and
collectivistic societies does not appear to contribute much to our cross-cultural under-
standing. Many scholars have pointed out that the limitations of such conceptualization
lead to gross generalization and stereotyping, rather than better appreciation of cross-
cultural diversity (Sovic 2007; Littlewood 2001; Ward et al. 2001, pp. 156–159).1

Aims and methods

The present study has tried to incorporate the concerns discussed above, and will address
the experiences of international students and their perception of home students in the
creative arts.
The project interviewed 162 first-year students at the University of the Arts, London, a
university with a high proportion of international students. 141 of these students were from
six of the university’s main international suppliers of students, Japan, South Korea, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, India and the USA; the remaining 21 were a ‘benchmark’ group of home
students. The international students were interviewed in their own languages by post-
graduates from outside the university, which appears to have had positive results as the
interviewers could empathize with them and the students were more willing to open up.
Students filled in a written questionnaire before the interview, which provided some
background quantitative information about their origins and age, how they came to choose
the university, etc. At the centre of the study were semi-structured interviews in which
students were asked 16 questions covering their reasons for deciding to study abroad, their
expectations, the cultural and educational differences they encountered, and their experi-
ences at the university. The findings of the project are thus based above all on textual
analysis. To the writer’s knowledge this is the largest project of its kind to be undertaken to
date in the UK.2
The present contribution focuses mainly on two of the 16 questions put to the students at
the interview, which were specifically on social interaction. (Other aspects of the research
have been published in Sovic 2007, 2008a, b. See also http://www.arts.ac.uk/clipcetl-
internationalstudents.htm). These questions asked ‘how easy is it for you to meet UK
students?’3 and ‘do you meet up with other students outside classes to discuss academic
work?’ Fuller responses to the latter question were encouraged by the interviewers through
supplementary ones (e.g., ‘If so, where?’ ‘Are these other students from the class? inter-
national students? students of your nationality?’ ‘What language do you speak with them?’).
A further question asked ‘How satisfactory is your accommodation and has it enabled you to
meet people/make friends?’. Many students also reflected on these issues in response to the
final question of the interview, which asked students to ‘name three things that you would
change if you were able to do so’. The richness of data made it possible to investigate social
interaction between students in the context of other factors such as age, gender, language

1
I propose to deal more fully with this issue in a future study on teaching and learning issues for
international students.
2
For a fuller discussion of the methodology see Sovic 2008b, pp. 6–7.
3
Home students were asked ‘How easy it is for you to make friends?’.

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 751

ability, accommodation, stresses, and classroom experiences. Less information can be

gleaned from the 21 interviews with home students, spread as they were across the six
colleges of the university. The purpose of these interviews was not to provide direct
comparisons, still less to act as a control group in a formal quantitative sense, but simply to
furnish responses which could serve as a test of the specificity of the experiences to
international students.

Findings

General issues

…I wanted to study at a place where it wasn’t all Koreans. If it’s all Koreans, then I
feel like the point of studying abroad is lost. But here at UAL, there are variety of
people from different backgrounds, and that’s why I like it here.
South Korean student
For international students, the most common response to the question why they chose to
come to UAL was the attraction of cosmopolitan London and the social mix of the student
population. The expectations and aspirations of the majority of international students
appear to be to meet students with different backgrounds, and to establish friendships with
them. They have moved halfway across the world, and the new environment in which they
find themselves, away from home and their established family and social networks, means
that potentially every aspect of their new lives can be stressful as well as exciting.4 Of
those who expressed an opinion on the subject the great majority hoped especially to have
home students as friends, but they regretted that in practice this had proved to be extremely
difficult. As one student describes it:
When I was in Taiwan, I expected that I may have many chances to make many
friends from diverse cultural backgrounds. However, when I am physically attending
a BA course here, I seem to find it a bit different and difficult for me to mix with
other students here. UK students are generally nice, but rather distant to me.
Taiwanese student
Just as for home students, student friendship networks are perceived as essential factors
for successful integration into university life (Ramsay et al. 2007). Research on home
students has shown that making friends in their transitional phase to university is instru-
mental in reducing student withdrawal in the first year; Wilcox et al. suggested that this
phase is ‘about students negotiating between the old life they have left behind (family,
home and friends) and the new life they have ahead of them. This is a complex process and
‘‘finding your place’’…between old and new creates tensions which have to be resolved’
(Wilcox et al. 2005, p. 712). This is even truer of international students whose journeys,
both literal and mental, have been that much greater. Although it is claimed that the role of
staff at the university is of less significance to home students than establishing and

4
Compare Gill 2007. The issues are nicely encapsulated by Murphy-Lejeune (2002 pp. 233–234):
‘Travelling and living abroad for a period of time in this context implies crossing into a new time-space,
discovering new horizons where old and new blend, going through tempest and calm, avoiding rocks and
perils, unearthing strange customs through secretive language, pioneering new methods and strategies to
negotiate the unexpected, exploring one’s resources, meditating over sameness and difference, trying out
potential identities, and all the time learning’.

123
752 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

retaining the appropriate social support with peers, the evidence from the present study
suggests that international students expect the staff and the institution to facilitate
appropriate social situations for developing and nourishing friendship between interna-
tional and local peers. This is in line with the findings of the UKCOSA survey of
international students’ experiences in UK universities and colleges, in which one of the key
findings was that international students ‘wanted more opportunities to mix with UK stu-
dents and with local communities’ (UKCOSA 2004, p. 72).
There are various reasons why international students expect staff and institutions to help
engineer cross-cultural contacts and understandings. These include insufficient proficiency
in English, the danger of misunderstandings, negative stereotypes and the new foreign
environment in which international students found themselves. It has been recommended
that specially designed orientation programmes that include cross-cultural adjustment can
benefit all students and encourage cross-cultural dialogue and companionship among
students (Ramsay et al. 2007). The great majority of non-native speakers interviewed in
this project expressed feelings of loneliness and isolation, often accompanied by anxiety
and lack of confidence in communicating5:
And if you don’t know the exact words to use, you are not communicating properly
with the person opposite to you. And it makes a big difference, if your control over
the language is much better you are more confident and the confidence comes across.
And you interact a lot with more people. If you are lacking confidence with your
language then even in the crowd of three of four, you will be the quietest one. It has
been a problem in the past.
Indian student
Similar sentiments were expressed even among those students who reached high scores
in their language exams:
Even though my IELTS score is 8, it means nothing because in practice I need to face
different kinds of people with different accents. It’s totally another thing.
Hong Kong student
Several of the students interviewed were concerned that their IELTS qualification, even
when at a high level, had not helped them integrate, either academically or socially.
‘Passing the test’ was very different from communicating with real people, especially
native speakers whose speed of conversation could be disconcerting. The initial shock of
finding how hard communication could be, so soon after attaining a language qualification,
can be very demoralizing.6
Even American students have to make adjustments:
Getting accustomed to British colloquialisms and the British slang… took a couple
of months to get used to when I first got here.
American student
Although some research has explained the alleged tendency of certain international
students to stick with their co-nationals as a result of their inadequate language and

5
This is echoed in other studies; see for instance Mullins et al. 1995 and Burns 1991.
6
See also Sovic 2008a, pp. 150–151. Similar concerns have been detected in Australian and American
universities with a high proportion of international students (Perrucci and Hu 1995; Volet and Ang 1998;
Burns 1991; Samuelowicz 1987). The unconscious discrimination this imposes on non-native speakers has
been described by Grimshaw as ‘native-speakerism’ (Grimshaw 2008).

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 753

communication skills in a new culture (Volet and Ang 1998), the present study suggests a
more complex situation. The majority of international students wanted to have more
contact with local students and people from outside the university precisely to improve
their language, but found limited opportunities to do so.
I am slightly concerned about my English. I haven’t got many chances to practice,
neither my writing nor speaking. In terms of speaking, as said earlier, I don’t pick up
chances to make communication with UK students.
Taiwanese student
An unexpected feature of this study is the age profile of international students. Inter-
national students at the University of the Arts are generally older than home students, and
among those who took part in our study this characteristic was especially pronounced;
more than half were in their early twenties, and indeed many had already finished their first
degree, or in a few cases even an MA, back home (see Sovic 2008b, p. 9). In addition,
some of them had working experience. These students are very conscious of their age and
see this as a substantial barrier to communication between them and young home students:
In my class, many classmates are British students and this circumstance itself is no
problem to study, but many of them are so young like 18 or 19 years old and they
seem to want to talk only among themselves. I sometimes find it difficult to talk with
them. In relation with this issue, their childish behavior makes me feel a bit negative
to talk.
Japanese student
The age factor could be seen as a characteristic, perhaps related specifically to arts and
design study. However, a similar feature has been noted in other international studies
within different disciplines (Lee and Rice 2007; Ramsay et al. 1999; Mullins et al. 1995).
Peat et al. commented that ‘it is possible that some older students find it more difficult to
establish peer networks in the early stages of university life, and hence may not have the
same initial ‘‘buffer’’ against the stress as younger students who find it relatively easy to
make friends their own age’ (Peat et al. 2001, p. 211). The evidence of this study indicates
that making friends was a struggle, not only for mature non-native international students,
but also for students who spoke a different variety of English, like Americans and Indians.
That this is about much more than language is evidenced by this quote from an American
student:
I’ve tried to get on with them, like I’m not even being pushy, not like, ‘Hi, what’s
your name? I want to be your friend!’. But I’ll just be like ‘Hi!’, you know just
getting acquainted, and they just want to have nothing to do with you unless you’re
British…
American student
The age factor, and its implication for the formation of friendships, have not been given
enough attention in the research related to international students. The students’ responses
in this project suggest that linguistic barriers of communication between home and
international students are exacerbated when combined with differences in age and matu-
rity. Home students are mostly not aware that many international students already have
degrees, or even work experience. Home students could be told this at orientation days,
which could thus trigger initial discussion, bonding, inter-cultural encounter and better
understanding of each other’s background right from the start.

123
754 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

Relations between students

There are many references to the widespread phenomenon of people with the same origins
forming groups to the implicit exclusion of others. There is a perception—also referred to
in the research literature—that ‘Asians stick together’, and many have challenged this view
(Littlewood 2000, 2001; Chalmers and Volet 1997). However, the international students
interviewed for this research felt the exact opposite:
I only meet them at school, but I feel that UK students are always with UK students
only.
Japanese student
Several students complained that it was very difficult to penetrate into what they assume
to be already existing circles of English friends7:
There is a big difference between English students and international students.
English students stick together and international students are loners… For interna-
tional students college is their social life. For the English students they already are in
their home, near their families with their own school friends. We are away from our
homes, families and school friends…
Indian student
For others this situation posed a challenge which they had tried to overcome:
British students have already made a group of friends because they have known
already someone. It is difficult to join such a group but I need to have strong
confidence to do this and I have to make myself to try to join that group. That’s the
difficulty to make friends with British students.
Japanese student
Home students are seen as coming from similar schools and backgrounds and an
identical culture, knowing the system, not having language issues, and therefore also
having in common a much greater familiarity with what is expected of them in the
transition to university. In the new social context of the university and the class, bonds with
other home students are the most natural ones to be formed. As mentioned above, it is
acknowledged in the literature that for home students, pre-college friends can be instru-
mental in the transitional process to university, but their ‘bridging’ function is usually
limited until they establish a set of new friends within the university. International students
clearly lose out here, and institutions need to think how they might help to compensate for
this loss.
Another obstacle to better social integration is shyness. This is reported by many
international students who had not been living in the UK for a long period, but it is
especially pronounced among Asian students. International students feel that it is con-
stantly down to them to make the first move; yet they commonly describe themselves as
being shy, ‘not the kind to take the initiative’. They say quite explicitly that they need help
to integrate, otherwise there is a danger that they will stick with their co-nationals or with
those from the same region as themselves:
International students from Asia are generally very shy when they first come to this
country. We really need the college or our teachers to facilitate engagements

7
This is in line with other studies; see for instance Mullins et al. 1995.

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 755

between and among students. Alternatively, they can help to initiate interaction
among students, which is very important to international students. I am a very shy
person and often go with Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kongese.
Taiwanese student
It has been observed that some male Asian students are more prone to this than females,
and thus form fewer friendships with home students8:
I met a really shy Japanese guy. I’m pretty outgoing and I like talking to people, but
he was just afraid of talking in English. He pretended to listen to iPod so that people
won’t talk to him, and he doesn’t have to talk to them.
Japanese student
Similarly, some international students ascribed the reserved nature and perceived
coldness of home students to their shyness. This is how one student described them:
They are shy, timid, or so proud. I think most British students have one of these three
characters. They are also very young, so there are many UK students, who are
reckless. They don’t care for international students. For example, they don’t say
again or speak slowly, when someone does not catch their speaking. So, I hesitate to
say something to them.
South Korean student9
Another important factor that makes communication and friendship with home students
difficult is language. International students need time to adapt to different accents, acro-
nyms, slang, and the speed of conversations, and they often feel that home students lack
goodwill and patience:
They are very nice people, very easy-going. But then, you have to have a very good
hang of English. If you can’t have a conversation with them fluently, they can’t be
bothered to be friends with you. They will be nice to you, exchange pleasantries, but
they will not bother at all to get to know you better. Obviously, if you can speak the
way they do, if you can understand their sense of humour, then you can definitely be
part of them as well. But, generally it is not easy because they have their own set of
friends, the British get along really well, they don’t want to mix with international
students. It is so true.
Indian student
The difficulty of ‘breaking the ice’ is substantial, and failure can be distressing:
I think it is extremely difficult for me. As the same age students, UK students are
usually only willing to talk to those speaking fluent English. If I talk to them actively,
I don’t get a lot of response. Therefore I feel upset.
Taiwanese student

8
Similar findings were reported in UKCOSA 2004, p. 67.
9
Of course international students do not have a monopoly of shyness. However, among home students it
may be no more than an initial barrier. This home student’s remarks encapsulate the point:
Personally I am quite shy when I meet new people but when I get over that it is quite easy to make
friends and I get quite comfortable with people. For example at the beginning of this year everyone
was quite quiet and shy and reserved, but now we are in the third term and everyone seems very
comfortable with each other and we have groups of people who work well together.
Home student.

123
756 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

Some students do recognise that patience and persistence are required:

Like I said, I am an introvert, so I find it a little difficult in general, not just with UK
students. But, they are ok, they are kind of friendly. But it is hard to get to know them
because they are like, you know, Oh you are an Indian. I think, that’s the way I feel.
Or like, you are not British, so they stay away from you. They think of you in a
different way. But then once you get to know them, they realise, Oh ok, you know,
she is a nice person. Then they start talking to you. So it has not been that difficult.
Indian student
A few home students also felt that more could be done to bring students together:
In terms of the whole university there is not a lot of cross-course pollination. There is
some but it could be nurtured a little bit more…
Home student
Where home students appear not to want to talk to international students, this makes
those with inhibitions about their linguistic ability even more nervous, and can easily drive
them to the easier option of talking more with their co-nationals, i.e., back into the trap of
segregation:
And the thing is that there are so many Asian people in our college… What happens
is, I feel that they become lazy like, if you are with Indian people, we’ll talk in Hindi,
its only natural, you know, and so they also obviously only talk in Chinese or Korean
or whatever it is. So they become too lazy to learn more. …When you have a
group… mix everyone together.
Indian student
It may also be significant that international students find it easier to get to know UK
students if they are from an ethnic minority. One Hong Kong student said that s/he spent
most time with ethnic Chinese students who had settled in the UK; a Korean was close to
Japanese and black UK students. Another reported that this had led to a further grouping:
I don’t have many British friends here. I find it easier to make friends with these
British born African students. They seem to me are much easy-going… Some of
these white students would greet me when we meet on the corridor. But, some just
ignore you.
Taiwanese student

Institutional aspects

That’s why I like coming to school here, because I meet people from all over the
world. Like, in the States, you just meet people from – the different states! And here,
I socialize mostly with Americans, I don’t know why, I guess it’s mostly because we
have more in common. But, I do have friends from Scotland, and from Australia,
Russia… you just meet people from everywhere, which I think is really interesting,
because you just have completely different backgrounds, but you end up in the same
place in your lives right now. It’s interesting to learn about different cultures.
American student
This study explored the university-led activities that have the potential to encourage the
development of social networks. In the literature, friends on the course are viewed ‘as one
of the most significant providers of general support about programme expectations, help

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 757

with essay writing and a ‘‘listening ear’’ when stressed about workload’ (Robinson et al.
2007, p. 13). As mentioned above, international students were asked whether they met
others outside classes to discuss work. This elicited a variety of responses. Few met
regularly or in an organised way for that purpose. For one course, the UK students had
organised a weekly meeting in a local pub to share photographs, and a few international
students took part. There were also examples of classmates going to an exhibition or a
movie suggested by their teacher. Apart from these, most of the students’ comments were
devoted to analysing why they did not meet more to discuss work. A number of reasons
were given. After class, students tended to disappear rapidly, not having time to hang
around. Students who tried to fix meetings for the future tended to be disappointed; even
when reminded, many did not turn up. Organising meetings was not easy unless they
individually exchanged contact details. Another problem was finding suitable places to
meet. Often those groups which did form ended up in the canteen for lack of a better
space—which, they imply, was not ideal for talk about work.
Behind this comparative failure to meet regularly to discuss work lie more fundamental
problems of social interaction. The respondents identified a number of factors in this.
Language, yet again, was a barrier, on both sides. Non-native speakers felt uneasy with the
colloquialisms of native speakers, but several of them also detected some reluctance on the
part of home students to be patient. Even when they are, the conversation is an effort on
both sides, and it is often easier not to bother:
I kind of run away from it. It’s ok with students who speak simple English, but it’s
hard to understand the young UK students, and the conversations don’t last long or
get awkward because I ask them to repeat so many times.
Japanese student
I am confident enough to talk to Asian students in English, but am really scared to
speak to UK students. I am scared probably because I worry that UK students can’t
really understand my English. Besides, I have no idea what to talk about with UK
students.
Taiwanese student
Older British students were better at making contact with international students:
There might be a generation gap. Inside the school, British classmates willingly talk
to me, but if we leave our classroom, even one step, they stop talking to me and seem
to enjoy chatting with other British. I hear that in another class, in which there are
some mature British students, Japanese often have lunch with them. So I think this
might be a matter of generation. I have friends who are mainly from Japan or other
Asia.
Japanese student
I have one British friend that I met at a bar. He is much older than me, but it’s nice to
talk to him because he is used to speaking to Japanese people, and tries to speak
slowly with simple words and phrases. I see him speaking to British people some-
times, but he talks very differently.
Japanese student
Such contacts, however, tended to remain superficial as the students did not have that
much in common (and mature home students often had family commitments etc.).
Differences in age, maturity and level of education play a less obvious but equally
important part. Older international students on the course find it particularly difficult to
keep up a conversation with young home students:

123
758 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

The fact that I don’t have any British friends. Well, not zero but really few… we
Japanese are 23–25 years old, and British students are 19–20. I don’t exactly know
why I don’t have friends. I believe, because they are younger than me. I hesitate to
approach them…their speech is really really fast. I can understand what our tutors
say though… I cannot understand my classmates’ English at all… so I am afraid, I
may stop speaking during conversation… I cannot continue saying words.
Japanese student
The general picture of international students as quieter and more reserved in class than
local students10 is echoed by the international students themselves in our interviews.
However, they also provided explanations. Class discussion is often a new experience for
them and they feel uncomfortable speaking out; they cannot keep up with the rapid pace of
dialogue, which has often moved on by the time they have formulated what they wanted to
say, and many Asian students say that they need to think a lot before they speak. This is
nicely summed up by a rather angry student:
Firstly, it is English. Secondly, UK students don’t understand why Asian students
spend so much time on thinking. And the ways that these two groups of students
work are so different. Sometimes, some Asian students try to explain what they
think. These UK students just are unwilling to listen. Third, these UK students
believe that they are entitled to dominate and to lead where our discussion should go,
simply they are westerners.
Taiwanese student
As Chalmers and Volet put it, ‘being quiet does not necessarily mean being mentally
passive. In addition, it does not take into account students’ beliefs of what is culturally
appropriate when interacting with people of different status and other students, and their
concerns about use of language’ (Chalmers and Volet 1997, p. 90). Because of this, home
students—and indeed even tutors—often get the wrong impression of them. Opportunities
for formal or structured exchange are thus missed, and this can actually make it harder for
students to feel that they might have anything to say to each other outside the class beyond
basic courtesies. One student defined these relationships as ‘hi–bye friends’. Another
observed:
It’s fine with saying hi and bye during class. But we don’t hang out after class.
Perhaps sometimes it’s because of their personality. Sometimes we don’t commu-
nicate well because of the language barrier.
Hong Kong student
For home students the most natural and immediate way to meet students is through their
accommodation. Wilcox et al. found that living arrangements are the most important
meeting points for home students while settling into university life, and argued that
‘students can, and do, also make friends on their course’, but it is in their accommodation
that students first have opportunities to forge friendships and social networks (Wilcox et al.
2005, p. 714). This is even truer for international students, especially as they do not have
the option of living at home. Carefully planned and managed accommodation is a stepping-
stone for developing a good inter-cultural contacts and communication:

10
This stereotype has however been challenged by a number of studies, especially by Lee and Rice 2007;
Littlewood 2001; Chalmers and Volet 1997.

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 759

… the people that I lived with were really great it was a really positive experience in
general just because I got to meet so many people. It was a bummer for me because
most of my closest friends were people who were only here for a term, but I really
did enjoy my time there…
American student
I live in school accommodation. My flat mates are mainly girls: 6 females and only 2
males including me. Their nationalities are British, Swedish, and Malaysian, Kor-
ean… by chance, a lot of females gathered in this flat. They are quiet and calm. I
get along with them.
Japanese student
Finally, informal social events for all students of various kinds such as sport, dancing
activities, picnics, visiting museums and galleries, and voluntary work are fundamental for
the successful integration of international students into their new environment. Societies
were seen by a number of international students as useful—especially at the beginning,
when students are struggling with language, a new social environment, and cultural dif-
ferences. Another aspect of social life can be the celebration of diversity and the assertion
of specific identities. However, societies which only represent national groups, while they
may have their place, can actually deepen segregation.

Conclusion

Social interactions are vitally important for all students. Studies on student retention have
shown them to be more critical factors in preventing home students from dropping out than
academic ones. The responses from this project suggest that social networks are if anything
even more important for international students.
In thinking about the kind of interventions that are needed, it is necessary to be flexible.
Institutions need to understand the profile of their students, which can vary greatly; policies
that work in one institution may not be appropriate for another. Moreover, it is best not to
assume any fixed patterns. The most obvious issue, language, may need a great deal of
intervention, but it may also mask other issues, and there is a danger of focusing on
language to the exclusion of these. ‘International students’ are a varied and disparate
group, with different backgrounds, skills, ages, experience, and command of English. Even
those from the same broadly defined region can display very different characteristics; they
are, after all, individuals. Even when generalised, the range of problems they face is
substantial and can be cumulative in their effect. Not surprisingly, therefore, solutions
cannot be monolithic either. When students have problems with language, an obvious
solution (alongside formal support) is to encourage interaction with home students. Where
the problems are emotional, support from co-nationals, or at least from people from the
same part of the world, may be more helpful. Where students encounter problems relating
to teaching and learning, institutional support of a specialised nature may be what they
need most. A variety of interlocking solutions and approaches, and a variety of relation-
ships, are required within the university if the full complexity of levels on which students
experience difficulties of transition is to be addressed.
Finally, home students should not be left out of such interventions. Their general lack of
language awareness when talking to non-native speakers is clearly a contributing factor to
the problems and isolation of international students. Much can be done to help them here,
and also to help them develop an awareness of the advantages of learning from other

123
760 High Educ (2009) 58:747–761

cultures. It should be equally in the interests of home as well as international students, both
as current learners and as future professionals, to recognize and engage with the impor-
tance of cross-cultural communication in a global age.

Acknowledgments I am most grateful to Dr Margo Blythman and Dr Alison Shreeve for their comments
on a draft of this article. An early version was presented at ‘Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve
Interactions between Home and International Students’, a conference at the Oxford Centre for Staff and
Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University, 20 June 2008.

References

Beasley, C. J., & Pearson, C. A. L. (1999). Facilitating the learning of transitional students: Strategies for
success for all students. Higher Education Research & Development, 18(3), 303–321. doi:10.1080/
0729436990180303.
Burns, R. D. (1991). Study and stress among first year overseas students in an Australian University. Higher
Education Research & Development, 10, 61–77. doi:10.1080/0729436910100106.
Cassidy, T. (2004). Mapping variables related to social identity, distress and perceived health in an
undergraduate student population. Social Psychology of Education, 7, 339–352. doi:10.1023/B:SPOE.
0000037504.24380.b3.
Chalmers, D., & Volet, S. (1997). Common misconceptions about students from South-East Asia studying in
Australia. Higher Education Research & Development, 16, 87–89. doi:10.1080/0729436970160107.
Furnham, A. (2004). Foreign students; education and culture shock. The Psychologist, 17(1), 16–19.
Gerdes, H., & Mallinckrodt, B. (1994). Emotional, social, and academic adjustment of college students: A
longitudinal study of retention. Journal of Counseling and Development, 72, 281–288.
Gill, S. (2007). Overseas students’ intercultural adaptation as intercultural learning; a transformative
framework. Compare, 37(2), 167–183. doi:10.1080/03057920601165512.
Grimshaw, T. (2008). Negotiating an identity in English: The discursive construction and reconstruction of
Chinese students. In R. Johnson (Ed.), University life uncovered: making sense of the student expe-
rience. SWAP Research Monographs, Higher Education Academy, 56–65.
Lee, J. J., & Rice, C. (2007). Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination.
Higher Education, 53, 381–409. doi:10.1007/s10734-005-4508-3.
Littlewood, W. (2000). Do Asian students really want to listen and obey? ELT Journal, 54(1), 31–36. doi:
10.1093/elt/54.1.31.
Littlewood, W. (2001). Students’ attitudes to classroom english learning: A cross-cultural study. Language
Teaching Research, 5(1), 3–28.
McKinlay, N. J., Pattison, H. M., & Gross, H. (1996). An exploratory investigation of the effects of a
cultural orientation programme on the psychological well-being of international university students.
Higher Education, 31, 379–395. doi:10.1007/BF00128438.
Mullins, G., Quintrell, N., & Hancock, L. (1995). The experience of international and local students at three
Australian Universities. Higher Education Research & Development, 14(2), 201–231. doi:
10.1080/0729436950140205.
Murphy-Lejeune, E. (2002). Student mobility and narrative in medieval Europe. The new strangers. Lon-
don: Routledge.
Peat, M., Dalziel, J., & Grant, A. M. (2001). Enhancing the first year student experience by facilitating the
development of peer networks through a one-day workshop. Higher Education Research & Devel-
opment, 20(2), 199–215. doi:10.1080/07294360120064439.
Perrucci, R., & Hu, H. (1995). Satisfaction with social and educational experiences among international
graduate students. Research in Higher Education, 36(4), 491–508. doi:10.1007/BF02207908.
Pitkethly, A., & Prosser, M. (2001). The first year experience project: A model for University-wide change.
Higher Education Research & Development, 20(2), 185–198.
Pritchard, R. M. O., & Skinner, B. (2002). Cross-cultural partnerships between home and international
students. Journal of Studies in International Education, 6(4), 232–354. doi:10.1177/102831502237639.
Quintrell, N., & Westwood, M. (1994). The influence of a peer-pairing program on international students’
first year experience and use of student services. Higher Education Research & Development, 13(1),
49–57. doi:10.1080/0729436940130105.
Ramsay, S., Barker, M., & Jones, E. (1999). Academic adjustment and learning process: A comparison of
international and local students in first-year University. Higher Education Research & Development,
18(1), 129–144. doi:10.1080/0729436990180110.

123
High Educ (2009) 58:747–761 761

Ramsay, S., Jones, E., & Barker, M. (2007). Relationship between adjustment and support types: Young and
mature-aged local and international first year University students. Higher Education, 54, 247–265. doi:
10.1007/s10734-006-9001-0.
Robinson, C., Le Riche, P., & Jacklin, A. (2007). Students’ views of support in higher education: A study of
current practice and future directions. Higher Education Review, 40(1), 3–17.
Samuelowicz, K. (1987). Learning problems of overseas students. Two sides of a story. Higher Education
Research & Development, 6, 121–133. doi:10.1080/0729436870060204.
Searle, W., & Ward, C. (1990). The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-
cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14, 449–464. doi:10.1016/
0147-1767(90)90030-Z.
Sovic, S. (2007). International students as ‘others’? The experience of first-year students in the creative arts.
Paper presented at Reshaping Higher Education, The Annual Conference of the Society for Research
into Higher Education, Brighton, 11–13 December 2007; http://www.arts.ac.uk/docs/International_
Students_as_Others_International_Student_Paper.pdf (accessed 1 March 2009).
Sovic, S. (2008a). Coping with stress: The perspective of international students. Art, Design & Commu-
nication in Higher Education, 6(3), 145–148. doi:10.1386/adch.6.3.145_1.
Sovic, S. (2008b). Lost in transition? The International Students’ Experience Project (Creative Learning in
Practice Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of the Arts, London);
http://www.arts.ac.uk/clipcetl-internationalstudents.htm (accessed March 1, 2009).
Terenzini, P. T., Rendon, L. I., Upcraft, M. L., Millar, S. B., Allison, K. W., Gregg, P. L., et al. (1994). The
transition to college: Diverse students, diverse stories. Research in Higher Education, 35(1), 57–73.
doi:10.1007/BF02496662.
UKCOSA. (2004). Broadening our horizons: International students in UK Universities and colleges;
http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/files/pdf/BOHreport.pdf; summary http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/files/pdf/BOH
summary.pdf (both accessed March 1, 2009).
Volet, S. E., & Ang, G. (1998). Culturally mixed groups on international campuses: An opportunity for
inter-cultural learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 17(1), 5–23. doi:10.1080/
0729436980170101.
Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.). London:
Routledge.
Westwood, M. J., & Barker, M. (1990). Academic achievement and social adaptation among international
students: A comparison group study of a peer pairing program. International Journal of Intercultural
Relations, 14, 251–263. doi:10.1016/0147-1767(90)90008-K.
Wilcox, P., Winn, S., & Fyvie-Gaud, M. (2005). ‘It was nothing to do with the University, it was just the
people’: The role of social support in the first-year experience of higher education. Studies in Higher
Education, 30(6), 707–722. doi:10.1080/03075070500340036.
Zhao, C.-M., Kuh, G. D., & Carini, R. M. (2005). A comparison of international student and American
student engagement in effective educational practices. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(2), 209–
231. doi:10.1353/jhe.2005.0018.
Zhou, Y., Jindal-Snape, D., Topping, K., & Todman, J. (2008). Theoretical models of culture shock and
adaptation in international students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 63–75.
doi:10.1080/03075070701794833.

123