Universities today are facing challenges regarding students' persistence and success especially among first year students who converge from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and anticipate a smooth academic and social adjustment to the university setting. However, contextual and individual factors play important role in the academic…

Students from marginalized religious backgrounds face myriad challenges on college and university campuses, and negative effects are especially pronounced for Muslim students. Wearing hijab can put college students at a greater risk of marginalization amidst a climate of Islamophobia. Although there is a growing body of research on Muslim college…

Research suggests that achieved ethnic identity has positive implications for the adjustment of Adolescents of Color. However, researchers know very little about whether (or how) the impact of achieved ethnic identity extends into college years. To explore this, our study examined the effects of ethnic identity on both social and academic…

University First Year Seminar (FYS) programs are diverse in their content and pedagogy. Yet all seek to assist first-year students in the difficult college transition. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate if grouping similar academic majors into the existing First Year Seminar (FYS) courses would improve social connectedness, use of…

This study examined the problems and challenges of social and academic integration in U.S. higher education institutions for Saudi Arabian and Mexican undergraduate international students. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and causal-comparative study was to examine the relationship among a) demographic variables…

International students make significant contributions to UK higher education and studying in the UK brings various potential benefits to international students. An in-depth exploration of the academic journey of Chinese international master's students, the largest body of overseas students in the UK, is needed to provide better insight into how to…

The COVID-19 Pandemic has altered the ways that college men develop and interpret masculinity on campus. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, this study explores the experiences of 28 second- and third-year undergraduate men living in on-campus housing to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected masculinity and the…

The rapid growth of international students, particularly from Sub-Saharan Africa, in U.S. higher education institutions calls for more critical research to understand their nuanced experiences in these institutions. So often, international students are homogenized and put under one umbrella, which shadows their unique experiences, especially those…

This hermeneutic and post-intentional phenomenological study explored how trauma experiences affected sense of belonging for undergraduate students. Results suggest five salient textures of belonging after trauma, including silence, validation, isolation, compassion, and betrayal. Implications for student affairs practice are presented to frame…

This paper explored the multiple layers of social and intercultural adjustment challenges experienced by international female doctoral students in Australia. The paper investigates multiple dimensions of sociocultural differences between the students' native and host countries, including sociocultural context, community engagement, personal and…

This study investigates the challenge of establishing social presence in professional development webinars, which lack face-to-face interaction and physical presence. Using the Community of Inquiry framework, the research examines factors influencing teacher social presence. Following phonomyography research methodology, research data were…

Objective: In March 2020, the emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic prompted large scale, social lockdowns internationally. Participants/Method: Here, we compared the mental health symptoms and social functioning of pre-pandemic college students collected during the Spring 2020 semester to those of a pandemic group collected during the Fall 2020…

International tertiary student mobility will continue to rise as governments and universities support diversity in education and prioritize international experience. With this mind, it should be a priority to study the impacts and impediments of student adjustment in their chosen countries. The authors advance a line of inquiry, which seeks to…

International students often experience difficulties acclimating to campus climates in the United States. While identifying oneself as a fan of college sports has been shown to assist domestic students in their social adjustment to college environments, little is known about the relationship between international students' college sports team…

Universities worldwide have seen an expansion of students. We surveyed 1,193 students at the University of the Free State and conducted interviews and focus groups to better understand the factors that contribute to housing satisfaction. Satisfaction depended on a range of environmental factors, particularly noise levels, rules, security, privacy,…