Survey of U.S.A faculty on international students

A presentation by researchers at the NAFSA - Association of International Educators conference provided important insight on faculty views toward international students. Not a surprise, faculty expressed concerns about language proficiency. Jason Schneider, assistant professor at DePaul University in Chicago and one of the presenters indicated, "On the one hand, faculty have good things to say about international students and they appreciate their presence, but at the same time they don't know what their role is or they don't know how to make changes in the classroom to adjust to these students."

Another presentation by a team from UCLA reported results of a survey of international students on their experience in the U.S.A. One international student subject commented, "Maybe it's not other people's fault, but I just feel like I'm being different all the time. I feel like... I don't know why I'm really self-conscious about my accent, like how I express myself. So even if I'm in a club or in my group of people, I just feel like 'what if I say something wrong? I don't know the expressions.'"

The combination of faculty perceptions and international students' reactions to their U.S. experience will hopefully push higher education practice forward but it's important to consider both views.