Research at Ohio State, Purdue, and Old Dominion informed discussions of how to make international students more comfortable at U.S.A. campuses at the 2014 NAFSA conference. The research confirmed other reports that international students, especially the large numbers of Chinese, do not feel part of the campuses where they are studying. The article covers assessment of international students satisfaction, how they perceive the campus environment, and what faculty can do make international students more comfortable. The part left out of the report - the attitude, perspective, and willingness of American students to take responsibility for improving the campus ethos. I can only hope that someone in the audience raised this question.
The report from Purdue mentioned the extra services they offer to international students - a result of the $2,000 USD surcharge for attending the university. As I've noted in previous posts, since when have we charged cultural minorities, students with disabilities, or any other sub-group an extra fee for the services they need to be successful? If the rationale is that international students' families don't pay U.S. taxes, that still doesn't make it in my book. International students, by contrast to most other groups at U.S. institutions, are most often full pay. Why isn't full pay enough to justify services required to be successful. And, if the admissions staff doesn't believe an international student is not well enough prepared to attend, why would they offer admission in the first place? And who is offering payment or incentives to international students to serve as cultural informants to American students who have little knowledge of what's happening in the rest of the world?
The report from Purdue mentioned the extra services they offer to international students - a result of the $2,000 USD surcharge for attending the university. As I've noted in previous posts, since when have we charged cultural minorities, students with disabilities, or any other sub-group an extra fee for the services they need to be successful? If the rationale is that international students' families don't pay U.S. taxes, that still doesn't make it in my book. International students, by contrast to most other groups at U.S. institutions, are most often full pay. Why isn't full pay enough to justify services required to be successful. And, if the admissions staff doesn't believe an international student is not well enough prepared to attend, why would they offer admission in the first place? And who is offering payment or incentives to international students to serve as cultural informants to American students who have little knowledge of what's happening in the rest of the world?
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