Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This is a mixed methods data collection.

International Students' Intercultural Experiences: a Comparative Study, 2006-2008 sought to investigate the nature of undergraduate international students’ intercultural experiences during their study in UK higher education. The research examines the similarities and differences in the way in which a sample of students adapt (or did not adapt) during their studying experience. A range of personal, pedagogical and situational factors were investigated.

The data collection available from the UK Data Archieve combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative data collection involved a two wave questionnaire survey administrated to first-year undergraduates at four UK universities. The first wave examined patterns in student's initial adaptation and the second wave returned to the same students two years on and continued to explore the same themes. The qualitative data collection involved selecting eleven students from the original sample to be case studies. The students selected were from different countries and studying different disciplines. They were interviewed approximately four times over a fifteen-month period to explore their experiences while studying in the UK.

Further information is available from the ESRC Award web page and the ESRC Project web pages.

Main Topics:

The main topics include:

• international students
• intercultural adaptation
• intercultural experiences
• internationalisation of higher education
• international education