The First Year International Students at the University of Windsor: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences

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The First Year International Students at the
University of Windsor Perspectives,
Expectations, and Experiences

• G. Zhou, Z. Zhang, G. Liu, E. Chacon
• University of Windsor, Canada

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This project was funded by

• CTL/UW Centred on Learning Innovation Fund (CLIF)

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The purposes of the study

• To understand perspectives, expectations, and
  experiences of the first year international
  students studying at the university.
• Particularly on the challenges these students
  faced in the process of adjustment and strategies
  they employed to deal with the challenges.

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Tintos Model of Retention

• Academic integration
• GPA
• Academic goals
• Social integration
• Contact with staff
• Sense of community

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Data Collection

• Survey (online and hardcopy)
• Focus groups

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Sample

• Surveys
• 64 valid surveys returned
• Approximately 18 return rate (out of 350
  students)
• Focus groups
• 5 focus groups (4 students)

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International Students by Origin 2008/09
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Demographics Gender
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Demographics Age range
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Demographics High school
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International High School or not
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Whether have English-speaking friends
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Housing
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Roommates
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Home Communication
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Study place
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Weekend
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Event Attendance
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Personal Contact with Instructors
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Contact with Staff
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First Resource for Help
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Plan after Graduation
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Levels of satisfaction with study experience at U
Windsor
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2008 National Survey of Student Engagement
Summary of NSSE 2008 Results
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Feeling about study experience at U Windsor
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Confidence for successfully completing program
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Recommend UW?
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UW as First Choice?
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2008 National Survey of Student Engagement
Summary of NSSE 2008 Results
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Reasons for coming to Windsor

• U Windsor has relationship with their schools
• Close to USA
• Parents choice
• Having friends studying at U Windsor
• Interesting programs

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Initial difficulties at arrival

• Finding directions
• Paper work
• Food
• Transportation

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Residence issues

• Noisiness
• Compulsory meal plan
• Roommates and neighbors

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Perspectives of life in Windsor

• Boring spare time
• Reasonable living costs
• Inconvenient transportation system

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Challenges

• Language
• Oral communication
• Paper writing
• Culture
• Friend making
• Spare time
• Relationship with other ethnic groups
• In group work
• With professors and TAs

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Learning differences

• Group work
• Course demands
• More labs in science and engineering
• More essay writing in social sciences
• High school preparation
• Not enough training in essay writing
• Not enough experiences in group work

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International high schools vs. public high schools

• More comfortable in terms of social life
• Fewer challenges with adjustment

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Suggestions

• University level
• Security
• Residence
• ISC
• More practical orientations
• Event scheduling

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Researchers Contact info

• Guoqiang (George) Zhou gzhou_at_uwindsor.ca
• Zuochen Zhang zuochen_at_uwindsor.ca
• Guoying (Grace) Liu gliu_at_uwindsor.ca
• Enrique Chacon echacon_at_uwindsor.ca
• www.uwindsor.ca/isc

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