Northeastern University is an institution known for their international experiences including exchanges, co-ops and language programs. “Northeastern suggests that international students make up about 32.8% of the student body” (Factual, 2018) In particular completing my IP in the NUGlobal office, only working with international students, it has allowed me to gain an insight into the struggles international students may face when coming to a new country and institution.
“Research suggests that international students can experience many challenges as a result of language and cultural barriers, academic and financial difficulties, interpersonal problems, racial discrimination, loss of social support, alienation and homesickness” (Yeh and Inose 2003). The university are very aware of these problems and have support networks and safe spaces for international students to go and receive help. In particular, some of the precautions that our department puts in place is at orientation at the beginning of the programme .We have many campus partners come in such as NUPD (Northeastern University Police Department), TitleIX (prohibits discrimination based on gender, which includes sexual harassment and sexual assault), OIDI (Office of institutional Diversity and Inclusion) and UHCS (University Health and Counselling Services). These campus partners explain and discuss cultural differences with the students through activities and interactive ways to get the students involved. Having these partners come at the start of the semester allows students to gain knowledge of these services and where to go if they ever do need support. Furthermore, it allows the students to get an overall view of the differences between their home country and university to the USA and Northeastern before integrating into their classes.
Through exploring this issue, I have been able to achieve both my personal goal 1 “to acquire cultural competency through working in a different country. By communicating with and effectively interacting with people across different cultures that I will encounter, not only, working in a different country but also working in Northeastern Universities Global office.” And IP objective 7 to “Acquire cultural competence that would enable students to succeed in a cultural environment different from their own and better prepare them for the global borderless market of the future”.
References
Factual, C. (2018). Northeastern University. Retrieved from Collage Factual https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/northeastern-university/student-life/international/
Yeh, C. J., & Inose, M. (2003). International students reported English fluency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 16(1), 15–28.
Links to Campus Partners websites
https://www.northeastern.edu/uhcs/ -UHCS
https://nupd.northeastern.edu/ – NUPD
https://www.northeastern.edu/ouec/ – TitleIX
Abby Duncan 