Competency Enhancement And Cultural Adaptation:A Survey Of Cross-cultural Experience Of Members From AIC Student Group Of Nanjing University

In recent years,with the better educational quality of Chinese universities and the higher international reputation of domestic higher education institutions,more and more overseas students have chosen to come to China for exchanges or further studies.This phenomenon poses great challenge to the management work of Chinese universities:how to effectively promote the integration of Chinese and overseas students,shorten overseas students' cross-cultural adaptation phases and improve Chinese students' cross-cultural communication awareness have become a problem worthy of attention.As an emerging form of student organization,the international student associations of colleges and universities are jointly participated and managed by Chinese and foreign students,which can play an active role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries and thus enhance the integration of both student bodies.Therefore,systematic research on the construction and management of international student organizations is of great significance.In order to systematically explore the current international student associations in Chinese colleges and universities,this study selects Association of International Communication of Nanjing University(AIC)with good reputation and strong influence as a research sample.First,this research explores and summarizes the founding process,management system,and implementation path of AIC through text analysis.Second,in order to further explore the actual effectiveness of the studied organization,this research uses participatory observation and interview methods to conduct an empirical survey of 30 domestic and foreign participants from 8 different countries,and the relevant theories of "cross-cultural adaptation" and "intercultural communication" are applied in terms to evaluate its positive aspects and limitations.Lastly,this research summarizes the management experience of the international student associations and offers relevant suggestions.The research results show that international student organizations represented by AIC mainly carry out related activities with the aims of language learning,cultural exchange,social practice and experience enrichment,thus achieving the goal of a better integration of Chinese and foreign students.The existence of those international student organizations is of great significance to the sound development of both Chinese and foreign student groups.First of all,international student organizations of this kind can effectively help international students to speed up cultural adaptation in foreign countries.Second,international student organizations can greatly enhance the cross-cultural language ability,cross-cultural understanding and cross-cultural sensitivity of Chinese student participants,thus improve their intercultural communication ability in general.However,there are also some limitation,including the limitations of the organization's scope of services and its social impact.This research suggests that colleges and universities should improve the management system of international student organizations,enthusiastically support the newborn organizations,and provide them necessary material resources.First,universities should clarify the responsibilities of relevant departments for the management,and develop a relatively complete management system to ensure the standardized development of international student organizations.Second,all colleges and universities should fully recognize the positive role of international student associations in the life experience of both Chinese and foreign students on campus,encourage relevant departments to give them necessary guidance from all levels.Finally,universities should provide convenience and support to the activities,facilities,and equipment of the organizations while at the same time,provide a good external policy environment.This paper can be roughly divided into six parts:the first part is the introduction part,including the research background,the research significance and the literature review.The second part is the case analysis of Association of International Communication of Nanjing University,including the establishment,development,management mechanism,and the operation mechanism of the studied case.The third part includes the research method,design and process,and in the fourth part,this research,based on the "U-curve model of cross-cultural adaptation" and "cross-cultural marginal model theory",analyzes the influence and mechanism of foreign students'experience in China.In the fifth part,the theory of "intercultural communication competency" is applied to assess the cross-cultural competence of domestic participants of the researched case.The last two parts draw a conclusion of this research and illustrate on the experience and enlightenment of international student associations in Chinese universities.