• Getting to know our international students

@ SFU

• Understanding Transition

• The importance of your role

• 3.3 million students now study outside their home country

• Over 5,000 international students registered at SFU

• International students currently represent 20 % of the total undergraduate

university population and 22% of the graduate university population

International Students at SFU

Undergraduate International Students

Graduate International Students

True or False?

1. Local students subsidize international student’s

tuition fees

2. International students take “seats” in educational

programs away from local students

3. Some international students have English as their

second language

4. International students are the “cream of the crop”

from their home country

5. Any student can become an international student

6. Some international students come from wealthy

families

7. Previous travel experience prevents international

students from experiencing culture shock

True or False?

1. Local students subsidize international student’s

tuition fees

2. International students take “seats” in educational

programs away from local students

3. Some international students have English as their

second language

4. International students are the “cream of the crop”

from their home country

5. Any student can become an international student

6. Some international students come from wealthy

families

7. Previous travel experience prevents international

students from experiencing culture shock

“Visible” aspects of culture: food, dress, language, rules, gestures, music, traditions, etc

“Non-visible” aspects of culture: innermost values, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, concept of beauty, concept of fairness, communication styles, perception

academic adjustment navigate university system

social isolation psychological & emotional strain

academic pressure relationships

International Student Transition

Adjustment: Referenced from Griffith

University, Australia

1. Lecture Materials

2. Create safe environments for group participation

3. Learn student’s names

4. Be Clear and Model appropriate academic integrity

5. Listen Actively & Ask

Questions

How to Be an Effective Leader! 6. Use Nonverbal Cues & Tools

7. Slang, Jargon, Idioms and Colloquial Expressions

8. Encourage the use of relevant cultural experiences

9. Be Patient

10. Develop Empathy

• Some of my best friends are…

• I know exactly how you feel…

• I don’t think of you as…

• Where are your REALLY from?

• That happens to me too…

• I don’t see colour, I’m colour blind

Taken from “Dumb things well-intended people say”

Dr. Maura Cullen

“We teach more by what we

are than by what we teach”

Will Durant

International Services for Students –

www.sfu.ca/international

Student Learning Commons –

http://learningcommons.sfu.ca/

Health and Counselling Services –

http://students.sfu.ca/health/

Academic Advisors –

http://students.sfu.ca/academicadvising.html

Getty Images http://www.gettyimages.com

Dr. Karen Rolston, University of British Columbia, BC

Dr. Lotta Kokkonen, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

Dr. Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary, BC

Dr. Natalee Popadiuk, University of Victoria, BC

Dr. Maura Cullen, “35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say: Surprising

Things We Say That Widen the Diversity Gap”

SFU Institutional Research and Planning, http://www.sfu.ca/irp.html