Student Counseling and Personnel Services Commons^™

Pathway Provider Programs: The International Student Experience, Aaron A. Mendez

Capstone Collection

As part of their commitment towards internationalization, many higher education institutions seek new recruitment practices to increase international student enrollment, to both enhance cultural diversity and increase the potential for revenue. Partnering with third-party pathway providers offers international students an opportunity to refine their English language skills, all while taking for-credit-bearing academic courses that ultimately prepare them for their second year upon matriculating into their degree-seeking programs. One difference between direct-entry international students and pathway program international students is the additional level of support for the latter.

This study explores the following research question: What are the experiences of international …

Strategies Of Higher Education Admissions Professionals To Adapt To The Recent Drop In Foreign Student Enrollment At Us Universities, Peter Plass

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this capstone is to explore strategies employed by graduate-level admissions professionals to counteract the recent fall in international student enrollment as reported by the US Department of State in November of 2018. The US depends heavily on foreign students for economic gains nationally and financial stability at the institutional level. Through the semi-structured interviews with five international admissions professions, this qualitative research study examined the factors that may drive international students away from the US. The findings of this study demonstrate that the cost of education, violence, bigotry on campus, the national anti-immigrant discourse, and the inability …

Connecting Study Abroad To Careers, Graduate School, And Fellowships: An Advising Program For Yale-Nus College, Beth Uding

Capstone Collection

A growing body of research affirms the positive impact of education abroad on career development, however, the value of this connection relies on students’ ability to intentionally “connect the dots” between study abroad and their bigger-picture academic and professional goals. Education abroad advisors, along with their counterparts in career services and other professionally-oriented advising, must consider how to help students identify transferable skills from study abroad and translate them for external audiences such as employers and graduate schools. The program proposed in this course-linked capstone is designed as a companion for semester-long mobility programs at Yale-NUS College. Informed by a …

Peer Advising 101: A Training Workshop For Peer Advisors In Study Abroad, Anna Marter

Capstone Collection

Peer advising and peer education programs have been prevalent in all areas of higher education. Recently, there has been growth in peer advising programs in study abroad offices to address the gap between student advising needs and the time constraints of professional staff. While initially intended to take pressure off understaffed offices, other benefits emerged from the use of students as paraprofessionals. Peer advisors were able to encourage students to go abroad, as well as provide valuable insider information about specific programs. While a lot has been written on the topic of peer education in other areas of higher education, …

Returning From Abroad: A Comparative Review, Denver W. Miller

Capstone Collection

Reintegration into the once-familiar community after a sojourn abroad poses unique challenges to the undergraduate population and more could be done to help returnees process their experience. Seven institutions of varying size were surveyed using a qualitative data collection instrument to determine how this sample pool supports their undergraduate students emotionally once they have returned from a credit bearing semester abroad. This capstone examines how institutions are moving students toward the fourth stage of Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle: Active Experimentation. Through this lens, a multitude of reentry approaches are explored with the aim being a comparison of the several …

Wildcats International Neighbors: Bridging International Students With Local Community At Northern Michigan University, Manato Kaisho

Capstone Collection

In Fall 2013 semester, Wildcats International Neighbors (W.I.N.) was designed and implemented as a pilot program for the International Programs Office (IPO) at Northern Michigan University (NMU). It was a cross-cultural program to connect international students and local community members for mutual cultural exchange. Moreover, this program served as a support program for international students during their transition to American culture. Fall 2013 semester was first time when the IPO implemented this program. At the end of the semester, the IPO conducted a program evaluation, and the office discovered there were several aspects of the program that needed to be …