Despite a large number of Sino-foreign joint education programmes, little research has examined the pre-departure academic preparations of students on these programmes. This study aims to fill the research gap by interviewing 22 Chinese students on 2 + 2 programmes studying at an Australian host university. Findings show that while more than half…

Students' transition from high school to university is a journey from a simple world to a complex one, with academic, social, and ethnic cultural transitions simultaneously occurring. Intercultural competence (IC) plays a crucial role in facilitating these cultural transitions. The aim of the study is to explore how university students undergo…

Teacher support significantly affects student learning and directly relates to their academic development. Learning satisfaction is the subjective perception and evaluation of learning quality on the part of the student, which represents, to certain extent, the quality of education. Based on data from a questionnaire survey of 1251 migrant…

According to the Social Cognitive Theory and the perspectives of parental differential treatment, the current research proposed and verified a moderated mediation model to explore the mediating role of teacher support and the moderating role of only-child (OC) /non-only-child (NOC) status in the relationship between hardiness and college student…

Although students are the key actors in their transition to higher education, there is limited research concentrating on student agency in a successful transition. This study examines how Chinese students actively and effectively manage their transition to the Sino-foreign cooperative university (SFCU). In X University -- one of nine SFCUs in…

The largest group of international students pursuing their overseas higher education in the UK come from China; and yet, little qualitative research has explored the experiences of Chinese students who have recently made this transition, with even less focusing on the experiences of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The present article…

The successful adjustment of international students to the new environment depends on their ability to interact effectively with the external environment. However, the literature has not yet provided a clear understanding of how the support provided by host universities affects the academic achievement and cultural adaptation of international…

Under the context of the in-country mobility of Hong Kong students studying at Chinese Mainland universities, this paper proposes the notion of 'transborder habitus' to understand Hong Kong students' experiences and perceptions. Through qualitative research with in-depth interviews with 51 Hong Kong students studying in major cities, namely…

This study explores cross-cultural integration of Chinese top-up students in a UK university from the perspective of loneliness. Existing research on integration has underplayed loneliness. This study used semi-structured interviews to collect data at three key transition points during the top-up year. The findings suggest that students…

Previous studies have indicated that mobile social apps have crucial implications for social connectedness among college students, the specific patterns of WeChat usage that facilitate freshmen's college adjustment and academic performance still remain unclear. To fulfil this identified study gap, the current research thoroughly examined the…

Adolescence is often portrayed in a negative light in Western culture, with teens being viewed as rebellious and irresponsible. Yet, there is substantial cultural and individual variability in views of teens. The empirical research to date is limited in that it mainly examines whether teen stereotypes are influential at the individual level. Teen…

College students face much instability and challenge across multiple spheres of functioning. The transition from late youth into early adulthood with new social, scholastic, and living environments presents heightened risks for destabilising academic motivation and mental health. Using the taxonomy of multidimensional academic amotivation, this…

As the number of international students in higher education continues to grow, so do concerns regarding systemic obstacles, discrimination, and social isolation that can impede students' academic success. Peer mentorship has been shown to support graduate students through academic socialization and achievement in higher education (Lorenzetti et…

The relationship between acculturation and academic adjustment has been under-investigated. A mixed longitudinal design was used in this article, with study 1 employing a questionnaire survey (N = 642) to explore student sojourners' academic adjustment status and its predictors, and study 2 adopting qualitative approaches (reflective journal and…

This paper reports the findings pertinent to the motivational dynamics in learning English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which are a part of a large-scale mixed-methods study. The study was aimed to explore the adaptation of a cohort of Chinese tertiary students when transiting to an English-as-Medium-of-Instruction (EMI) university from…