This paper examines the academic and sociocultural adjustment processes, challenges, and coping strategies of Chinese students who studied at top Western universities prior to relocating to Hong Kong for PhD study. Through purposeful sampling, 30 individuals from one elite university in Hong Kong, the majority of whom won prestigious scholarships,…

The paper is the first to examine international students in Vietnam despite the country's long-existing effort at internationalization. The empirical study is conducted at a large public university in the capital of Vietnam, a popular destination for foreign students. The study explores socio-cultural adaptation of foreign students and finds that…

As globalization increases, there has been a rise in expatriate families and, consequently, students enrolled in international schools. These children, known as "third culture kids" (TCKs), face difficult transitions, identity development challenges, and adverse social-emotional effects. Transition programs have been developed and…

Combining proactive literature, the social learning/cognitive theory, and cross-cultural adjustment literature, we examined the sojourners' experience from a positive perspective. Using a three-wave prospective design and a sample of 135 international students, we found that proactive personality was positively related to adjustment self-efficacy,…

As international students, sojourners, and immigrants arrive at host cultures, they usually employ certain means and strategies to adjust to the traditions and norms in these cultures. The present article provides a review of the literature about the impact that social networking sites (SNSs), as one of these strategies, have on the process of…

European medical schools are recruiting increasing numbers of international students. This study explores the impact of cultural backgrounds and language on the transition of international medical students to the clinical years of their training when they are predominantly based in hospitals and interacting with health professional staff and…

Hong Kong, along with other Asian societies with universities with top world rankings, has in recent years attracted an increasing number of international students, mainly from Asia. Previous research in English-speaking Western countries has indicated the importance of resources, including language proficiency, positive intergroup relations, and…

This article examines the extent to which normative beliefs on acculturation constitute (a) individual resources and risk factors for adolescents facing developmental tasks and (b) institutional norms that define developmental milieus in secondary schools. To what extent do egalitarianism, multiculturalism, assimilationism, and segregationism help…

The subjects of this qualitative research study are seven undergraduate international students between the ages of 18-25 at an urban, private university in the northeast of the United States. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was the methodology employed in this study. The data was analyzed by using Pettigrew's (1998) reformulated…

Through analysing data collected from interviews with 12 students and 7 teachers, observations, students' journals and other documents at a US high school, this qualitative study examines the sociocultural adaptation of "parachute kids" from mainland China. Emerging themes revealed adjustments to be made at three levels, namely,…

This study examined the relationship between international and domestic students' demographic factors on acculturation and sociocultural adaptation. It also examined the extent to which cultural values, uncertainty avoidance (UA) and power distance (PD), might explain two types of sociocultural adaptation: social interaction and localizing. A…

Millions of tertiary international students are studying abroad, and the number of exchange students continues to increase. We explored experiences of South American students studying in a non-Anglophone context. A photo elicitation methodology was applied to support data collection. Five participants were asked to visualize their challenges in…

The existing literature has much to offer regarding the adjustment issues of international students. English proficiency and social support appear to be the biggest factors affecting the social, academic, and cultural adjustment of international students. Psychology graduate programs can exacerbate these challenges due to strenuous workload,…

The current study details changes in first-year international undergraduate students' perceived knowledge of, confidence in, and usefulness of intercultural skills in specific US university contexts after completing a semester-long academic and cultural transition course at a mid-sized private university. Results revealed significant increases in…

Despite growing scholarly interest in international education, few studies have examined how the broader historic, structural, and cultural contexts of sending nations inform the global perspectives and pedagogical strategies of international students before and after migration. Based on surveys and focus groups with Korean and Chinese…