Description
International studies often present opportunities for capacity development and mentorship for students to equip them with the knowledge and skills to address the challenges in their home countries. Typically, international graduate students are drawn from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds different from those in their host countries. Adjusting to these changes might be challenging and time-consuming, thus influencing their academic journey. Understanding these challenges might provide international students the opportunity to address them in time and, where possible, seek help. In this paper, we discuss some graduate program-related challenges international students face and provide potential recommendations that might result in tailored programs. It is anticipated that such programs will effectively prepare international graduate students to adapt quickly to new conditions in their host countries and optimize the learning process while acquiring the appropriate tools for their future careers. We conducted a literature search that focused mainly on articles related to international graduate students in the US. Five challenges were explored: Cultural and language barriers, technological literacy and competency, mentorship, career development, and course structure and research priority areas. Graduate programs need to help students identify these challenges while helping them create an ideal environment for excellence. Such programs need to provide adequate support structures, making them known to students at the beginning of their programs. Although it is not feasible to change an entire educational program to accommodate all the needs of international graduate students, pressing concerns need to be identified for action.
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Is There a Need for Tailored Graduate Programs for International Students?
International studies often present opportunities for capacity development and mentorship for students to equip them with the knowledge and skills to address the challenges in their home countries. Typically, international graduate students are drawn from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds different from those in their host countries. Adjusting to these changes might be challenging and time-consuming, thus influencing their academic journey. Understanding these challenges might provide international students the opportunity to address them in time and, where possible, seek help. In this paper, we discuss some graduate program-related challenges international students face and provide potential recommendations that might result in tailored programs. It is anticipated that such programs will effectively prepare international graduate students to adapt quickly to new conditions in their host countries and optimize the learning process while acquiring the appropriate tools for their future careers. We conducted a literature search that focused mainly on articles related to international graduate students in the US. Five challenges were explored: Cultural and language barriers, technological literacy and competency, mentorship, career development, and course structure and research priority areas. Graduate programs need to help students identify these challenges while helping them create an ideal environment for excellence. Such programs need to provide adequate support structures, making them known to students at the beginning of their programs. Although it is not feasible to change an entire educational program to accommodate all the needs of international graduate students, pressing concerns need to be identified for action.
