So Tell Me in Your Own Words: International Students Interviewed by Compatriots. FirstYear Experienc

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So Tell Me in Your Own WordsInternational
Students Interviewed by Compatriots. First-Year
Experiences at the University of the Arts,
LondonDr Silvia SovicSeminar on the
Internationalisation of Higher Education,
University of Bath, 4 July 2007
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Objective

• To explore
• How well international students adapt to the
  system at the University of the Arts
• What obstacles they face
• What we can do to help them

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Key features

• Students interviewed in their own language.
• 14 interviewers from 6 countries (postgraduates
  in social sciences, from University of London)
• Written questionnaire semi structured
  interviews, allowing qualitative quantitative
  analysis

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1st year students from
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Benchmark

• 21 home students
• Total interviews 162

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• The process that I have been through is (1) I
  had high expectations about liberal teaching and
  learning approach in the UK, (2) I was shocked
  and lost (3) I gradually learned to accommodate
  and to accept this approach, after doing so many
  projects. I can see my improvement, but it is a
  bit slow.
• Taiwanese student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• I think of the hard aspects of adapting to the
  English system of learning was that in Korea, you
  just have to turn in the final project and there
  is no emphasis on the process. But here in the
  UK, you have to put more emphasis on the process
  of the project which makes it more difficult and
  something I definitely had to adapt to because I
  wasnt accustomed to this style in the very
  beginning.
• South Korean student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• Unlike the Japanese education system, the
  students are expected to study on our own here,
  so at first, I had no idea how to do the work. I
  had to figure out everything by myself, and it
  took me until just before the deadline to
  understand everything. But the volume of work is
  huge, so it was very difficult at the beginning.
• Japanese student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• The schooling is a little different here than
  what Im used to in the States, its a little
  more free flowing, self-motivating and in the
  States its more programmed and everythings kind
  of laid out. Here you kind of do what you need to
  do and get to explore more on your own terms.
• American student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• International students should be told that you
  should forget the way you were taught in your
  country, now that you are here you have to adapt
  to the way the British education system works
  because its the British way that we work.
• Indian student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM

• Ive found it easy to adapt to the English system
  of teaching and learning compared with that of
  Hong Kong. Its easy to catch up what they teach.
  The volume of work is quite a lot this year. The
  work is like unlimited. I dont have any social
  life. I do my homework without a stop. If I stop,
  it seems like I lag behind the others.
• Hong Kong student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD

• There were no problems. It was very easy. In the
  sense that the system is more relaxed here. If
  you compare the university system here with that
  in India or in the US, its a lot more relaxed.
  You dont have that much pressure on you.
• Difficult for me would probably be time
  management. Im used to having a structure of
  this week you have this assignment due and now
  theres a lot of ok, in five weeks youre going
  to have to have this project done, youre going
  to need so and so done and for me I struggled
  with time management a lot.
• Indian student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK

• It was difficult for me. One of the reasons was
  my English but another reason would be the
  characters of students in my group. My students
  have strong characters and they tend to be
  uncompromising to others so it was difficult to
  produce an outcome as a result of group work.
• Japanese student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK

• I feel its hard to speak and share ideas in
  English, but its easy for me to write. Sometimes
  we have group work which involves sharing ideas.
  This is hard for me. On the other hand, there is
  group work which only involves writing. We used
  to write our own part and combine together which
  I found is much easier for me compared to a group
  discussion.
• Hong Kong student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK

• Yeah, I think its the hardest thing, because we
  do it with the native speakers too. Its ok to
  talk with the teacher, but its impossible to
  keep up with the speed of conversation of the
  young British girls. Although I want to
  contribute more, its pretty difficult.
• Japanese student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• I havent got enough time to improve my English
  since I started my course. I thought that I would
  study my course, and in the meantime I would also
  improve my English. However, I havent even got
  enough time for my projects, how would it be
  possible for me to study and to improve my
  English as well?
• Taiwanese student

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• Where I struggle academically the most is with
  English language. My IELTS score may have reached
  the entry requirement for this course. ..but I
  find myself struggling with listening and
  speaking. Getting a good score in IELTS doesnt
  necessarily suggest that we would be able to do
  well in our courses. There are some terms and
  idioms, for instance, in relation to aesthetics
  and cultural studies that are very difficult for
  us
• Taiwanese student
• Even though my IELTS score is 8, it means nothing
  because in practice I need to face different
  kinds of people with different accents. Its
  totally another thing.
• Hong Kong student

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE

• When I give a presentation, other students ask me
  about my work and I have to answer immediately.
  But If I dont understand, I cannot answer
  properly. Its particularly difficult to
  understand young students who speak very fast. I
  cannot catch their accent. Then, I miss a lot for
  my study
• Language is an obstacle not only for my learning
  but also for my social life. Im really scared to
  speak to English students. Im too shy
• South Korean students

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE

• Getting accustomed to British colloquialisms and
  the British slang took a couple of months to get
  used to when I first got here.
• American student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE
• FEEDBACK

• But for us who are studying art, we need some
  very honest feedback. My tutor always tells me,
  , youve worked so hard. Well done. But I dont
  need you to tell me how much work Ive done
  because I know it myself. I only need you to
  honestly tell me whats good and bad about my
  work.
• Hong Kong student

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Teaching and Learning Issues

• THE ENGLISH SYSTEM
• WORKLOAD
• GROUP WORK
• LANGUAGE
• FEEDBACK

• She was critical, she criticised our work, but in
  a nice way. She was not discouraging. Which is
  one thing that they shouldnt do, they should
  encourage you. They can criticise, I am not
  saying dont criticise, but in an encouraging
  way.
• Indian student

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• The final report is due in autumn 2007. For
  further information about the International
  Students Project, contact
• s.sovic_at_fashion.arts.ac.uk
• Dr Silvia Sovic
• Research Project Coordinator
• Creative Learning in Practice Centre for
  Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CLIP CETL),
  University of the Arts, London