Page 132 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience

Chapter 6
Another finding that is relevant to higher education institutions is that first-year students are more satisfied than mid-year or final- year students. If higher integration leads to higher satisfaction, then international students should be encouraged to engage academically at later stages of their studies. International students value career planning support because it can be more difficult for foreign nationals to find jobs. A study of postgraduate international students in Finland found that international students are concerned about their future careers in a country where English is not their first language (Calikoglu, 2018). Similar concerns were found among international students in other non-English speaking countries such as China (Li & Bray, 2007), Turkey (Kondakci, 2011), and Malaysia (Ahmad & Buchanan, 2017). Non-native English speakers studying in English-speaking countries, such as the participants in our study, may have similar concerns.
Several studies have shown that international students exhibit higher levels of academic stress (Misra et al., 2003; Rasmi, Safdar, & Lewis, 2009; Hashim & Yang, 2003). High pressure from influential people in the home-particularly parents and teachers-who expect them to perform at high academic levels contributes significantly to this stress (Han et al., 2013; Chen, 1999; Mori, 2000). Students in their later years of study may feel pressured to perform well academically and to get a coveted job after graduation. Because student visas provide a limited period of time in which to find a job after graduation, this may contribute to lower student satisfaction in their later years of study. One practical way for universities to address this issue is to offer specialized career counseling to international students nearing graduation. Obviously, the better prepared students feel for their graduation, the more positive they will be about their experience.
limitAtionS And future reSeArCh direCtionS
The research in this thesis attempts to use quantitative and qualitative approaches to shed light on various issues related to the experience of international students. However, the studies described in the previous chapters have several limitations. First, the ability to draw causal inferences from the data is limited. The associations found were small, suggesting that additional factors play a role in shaping
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