Adapting to transnational education: students’ experiences at an American university in the UAE

IF 1.4 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Zsuzsanna Mikecz Munday
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Purpose Despite the increasing number of transnational universities around the world, little attention has been paid to students who attend foreign universities in their own countries and their adjustment to the new learning environment. This study aims to examine some of the adaptations freshmen students have to undergo while studying at an American university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach This study is conducted at an American university in the UAE and involved 152 freshmen students, investigating their challenges to adapting to the university academically and socially. The target respondents were first-year students, typically 18–19 years old men and women of various majors and nationalities who completed high school in the country. Questionnaires were emailed to students; a total of 184 surveys were completed (with prior permission), but only 152 of those fitted the criteria and were used in the study. Findings Findings indicate that although these students study at home, by attending a foreign university many of them rely heavily on the support of peers, especially co-nationals. They require similar academic and emotional support from teachers as many first-year students at university do. Research limitations/implications The findings have limitations as data were collected at a single point in time through surveys. Being a single researcher, the study did not opt for breadth to answer the research questions but aimed to find out freshmen students’ challenges in adapting to the university. Despite the limitations of the study, several issues were raised that can be investigated in future studies. Originality/value The study provided insights into the challenges first-year students face at a transnational university in the UAE. It identifies the support that could be provided by the university to facilitate students’ successful adjustment process to the educational and socio-cultural environment of the university. Although this was small-scale research and cannot be generalized to a larger population, the findings could be transferable to other, similar settings in transnational universities in the region. Findings might be compared and contrasted to other, related cases, as the structural aspects could be noticed in similar cases or situations.
适应跨国教育:学生在阿联酋美国大学的经历
尽管世界各地的跨国大学越来越多,但很少有人关注在本国上外国大学的学生以及他们对新的学习环境的适应。本研究旨在考察新生在阿联酋的美国大学学习期间必须经历的一些适应。设计/方法/方法本研究在阿联酋的一所美国大学进行,涉及152名新生,调查他们在学术和社会上适应大学的挑战。目标受访者是一年级学生,通常是18-19岁的男女,来自不同专业和国籍,他们在国内完成了高中学业。通过电子邮件向学生发送问卷;总共完成了184项调查(事先得到许可),但其中只有152项符合标准并用于研究。研究结果表明,尽管这些学生在国内学习,但通过上国外大学,他们中的许多人严重依赖同龄人的支持,尤其是外国国籍的学生。他们和许多大学一年级的学生一样,需要老师提供类似的学术和情感支持。研究局限性/启示由于数据是通过调查在单一时间点收集的,因此研究结果存在局限性。作为一个单一的研究者,该研究没有选择广度来回答研究问题,而是旨在找出新生在适应大学的挑战。尽管研究存在局限性,但提出了几个问题,可以在未来的研究中进行调查。这项研究深入了解了阿联酋一所跨国大学的一年级学生所面临的挑战。它确定了大学可以提供的支持,以促进学生成功适应大学的教育和社会文化环境。虽然这是小规模的研究,不能推广到更大的人口,但研究结果可以转移到该区域跨国大学的其他类似环境中。可以将结果与其他相关病例进行比较和对比,因为在类似的病例或情况中可以注意到结构方面。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
7
审稿时长
12 weeks
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