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5 Steps to Student Integration

By Peter Hanami

Integrating students is a common challenge facing all institutions that

accept international students. Teachers often ask How can I to stop theclass being divided into local students on one side of the class and

international students the other side? Impossible? In this article I willoutline five steps institutions can consider when undertaking an integrationplan and draw on my professional experiences working with international

students in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom and

Japan.

The aim of any integration plan is to get international students and local

students to work together in an effective way 1 or put another way, tobecome part of the campus and be accepted 2.

In Japanese, the word integrate is represented by the word tokekomu,which is made up of two ideas combined, the first , tokeru, , which

means melt, dissolve, or fade into and the second, komu, , meaning to

include, devote oneself to and to concentrate on 3. The definition takes on

a personal meaning that is particularly useful for managing internationalstudents.

The key to successful integration is to equip the student with the tools,skills and attributes required to effectively participate.

Step 1: Respect the students culture

International students often study with institutions for relatively shortperiods of time. By focusing on international students as customers and notstudents, changes the relationship and the management of international

students.

Respecting a students culture, for example: who they are, where they

come from and what they value, allows a stronger relationship to be

formed. If a student feels comfortable they are more likely to succeed intheir new study environment.

For Example: By providing a Japanese speaking gu ide as a greeter at theairport for a new Japanese student a unique positive first impression is

created. By also providing Japanese students access to Japanese food and

groceries they enjoyed at home also helps. Added to this the ability tospeak Japanese with a full time staff member and access to a computer that

reads Japanese characters are all important touches to show the studentthat you understand their culture.

In my experience, the way to successfully integrate international students isby having a detailed understanding of the students culture. I have found

that by analyzing the important components of a students culture providesclues as to what skills they require and how to best communicate them.

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A starting point to understand culture is to look at some of the majorcomponents such as food, language, values, religion and educationbackground. Food plays a major part of life in most cultures, for example,

the majority of Japanese people eat rice at every meal. If it rice is notavailable at your institutions cafeteria, how are you catering to this students

food needs? The student may stay in their room more rather than interactas they feel compelled to create food that meets their needs.

Let me share an experience I encountered. A Japanese student who startedat a home stay didnt eat for the first three days after arriving in Australia.The student had paid money for a home stay and expected three meals a

day to be provided. The home stay family had purchased food but wantedthe student to make their own meals. Problem: Different expectations. Thestudent left the home stay because she could no longer trust the home stay

family. The home stay family was left scratching their head wondering whatwent wrong. A number of issues can be seen in the example. Firstly, thehome stay family was more interested in money than the student, secondly

the student expected a service after paying a large sum of money inadvance, thirdly, self service is uncommon in Japan and finally, you onlyhave one chance to make a good first impression.

If only the home stay family had better understood the students culture.How a pair of slippers, a hot bath and a bowl of fresh rice would have made

this student more comfortable on arrival at her new house and created a

more favorable impression.

Respecting a students culture creates a positive element that is particularlyconducive for building trust and starting the process of integration.

Step 2: Quantify your institution expectations of international

students?Reality check! An international student will never be able to integrate 100%no matter how ambitious your institutions goals. Why? An international

student cannot stop being who they already are. That is a creation of their

own culture. No matter how much they want to change, adapt orparticipate.

Does your institution expect international students to understand suchthings as: The rules of college football? to play sport? Be able to tell and

understand jokes? Use slang? make conversations with strangers? Share

their opinions? Mix well with a wide range of people in English? A typical

Japanese student wouldnt be able to perform any of the above unless theywere trained specifically.

By having a clear set of expectations of what skills and abi lities yourinstitution expects of international students allows a better chance of

communicating them and for students to learn them.

For example: What does your faculty staff expect from international

students? In a Marketing class, is the student required to collect, analyze

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and question all the information provided in a class and direct creative

based questions to provoke the class thinking? Or to participate by addingtheir own opinion? What do library staff expect of international studentswhen they study in the library? How patient are your staff when a student

speaks in broken English?

Creating a specific list of required skills, abilities and knowledge provides atangible starting place on how to best communicate, train and educatestudents to actively participate.

Step 3: Analyze your culture and consider the best way to share it.

What do international students need to know to fully participate at yourinstitution? What are the key things they need to know? How can youanalyze your culture and convey it simply to students?

For Example: How would you describe the learning style in Americanschools, the role of the teacher, the skills a student requires to participate

effectively in class? What are the priorities of an American teacher, i.e .,spelling, attendance, participation or handing assignments in on time?

To a Japanese student, who only knows the Japanese education system, the

above questions are top of mind when studying abroad. The typicalquestions a Japanese students asks, include: whats different between

Japan and this institution?, what do I need to know?, how can I learn it?,

who can teach me?, is their a cultural rule book?, how do I communicatewith fellow students when Im not confident speaking English? What does

the teacher expect of me as an international student? and what do I need todo to survive this class?

Sadly we dont often take this much effort in understanding what thestudent needs but we need to.

The following provides an interesting insight into how an Asian studentviews their own culture.

The Asian culture, in a sense, is more feminine. We tend to be quiet andreserved. We follow instructions, we don't voice our opinions, we show

respect. We call our elders by 'uncle' our 'aunt' - everyone, whether we'rerelated or not. Back home, there's a hierarchy in terms of how you treatpeople. Nicholas Ling, a Malaysian architecture student, studying at an

Australian University. 4

What can your institution do to better prepare international students forstudy?

Step 4:Make available all relevant study information in the studentsnative language

If an institutions own language is English the majority of information given

to students will be in English. For Japanese students to study overseas theyneed a certain level of English to understand lectures, take notes and

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participate in classes but this does not necessarily mean that they are

comfortable with English. A high TOEIC score does not reflect a studentscompetency in using the language or their confidence.

It is vitally important for institutions to step back and see the amount ofinformation given from the students perspective.

Students may be able to read the information but do they have the time,ability and cultural knowledge to understand the information and to act in

the same way a local student would?

Providing key information in the students native language doesnt reduce

the students English ability. What it does is increase the students comfortlevel and provides confidence that they can participate on the same level asa local student knowing they have the same information.

Step 5: Increase student opportunities for participation.

When I interview Japanese students about their study abroad experiences acommon theme that comes up is how to make friends with local people.Most students share their anguish of not being able to speak English well

enough and their lack of ability to make friendships. Often it is not the

English language ability that impacts their ability to make friends but thelack of opportunities to interact with local students.

Institutions can increase opportunities by actively creating events andencouraging international students to participate.

For Example: Japanese culture is group based and so it is common for

Japanese to do many activities with groups of people and not individually.Therefore, to be faced to undertake an activity alone is a daunting task for aJapanese student. To overcome this personal invitation to participate with a

group can quickly get a Japanese student involved. Fear of failure, makingmistakes and uncertainty are reduced and a common bond can be quicklyformed.

An international student co-coordinator at a High School once told meduring a research project, We have found that once a student has local

friends, most of their daily worries tend to disappear their confidence grows

and they blossom

It is worthwhile to consider creating a range of events and opportunities

that continuously allow international students to meet and interact with

local people.

Individual personal preferences collected during the recruitment process canbe used to specifically create personalized meaningful activities in whicheach student can participate in.

Integration is an ongoing challenge for all institutions and one that must becarefully planned for, monitored and continuously reviewed. To adequately

ensure students are integrated, institutions should develop an Integration

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department with staff devoted full time to the cause. Ultimately a students

success is dependent on how comfortable they feel and how able they areto participate in an institution.

International students are people and managing people requiresconsiderable effort, planning and commitment. International students add

an extra dimension to the management equation as they have differentbackgrounds, beliefs and values. Therefore consider ably more planning,research and understanding is required to meet the challenge.

The benefits that international students bring to institutions and the positivecontributions they make therefore deserve our constant full attention.

Peter Hanami is an Australian International Education Consultant based in Tokyo

who assists education institutions attract, manage and retain Japanese students as

customers.

1. 2003, Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman imprint, Pearson

Education Limited, Essex, England, United Kingdom.2. 2003, Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman imprint, Pearson

Education Limited, Essex, England, United Kingdom.3. Nelson, Andrew and Hag, John (1999) The Compact Nelson, Japanese

English Character Dictionary, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc, Tokyo, Japan.

4. Stark, J (2005) Hello Stranger, Language and cultural barriers preventmany of Victoria's Asian students from mixing with the locals, AgeNewspaper, Internet: accessed, September 19, 2005, www.theage.com.au