Study On Support Services Of Cross-Cultural Adaptation For International Students In Chinese Universities

To help lessen cross-cultural adaptation difficulties, Chinese universities have developed support services to promote successful transition. However, in the circumstances of higher education internationalization, these support services need further improving so that the international students’ education in China could have a sustainable development.Based on the cross-cultural adaptation theory and the direct effect hypothesis of social support, this research constructed analysis framework of six dimensions:daily life adaptation, academic adaptation, social interaction adaptation, language adaptation, administration adaptation and cultural adaptation. Meanwhile, in the perspective of international students in China, this research probed into the adaptation difficulties and support services’ knowing, utilization and satisfaction through interviewing and investigating. Based on the findings of survey, the problems of support services for international students were presented. At the end, this research proposed some suggestions for improving the level of support services for international students in China.This thesis is composed of five chapters,namely, introduction, historical review and status description of support services for international students in China, research design and conduct, questionnaire analysis on support services of cross-cultural adaptation for international students in China and findings, suggestions and reflections. The five chapters could be divided into three parts. The first part named question proposing consists of the first chapter and the second chapter, and it introduced the research background in theory and practice. The second part research design and analysis includes the third chapter and the forth chapter, which elaborated on the development, conduct and analysis of the questionnaire. The third part namely the fifth chapter depicted the findings, suggestions and reflections on the research.This research concluded that:l) the main difficulties that international students experience are administration service adaptation, cultural identity adaptation, language adaptation and daily life adaptation. Additionally, the international students meet minor difficulties in social interaction adaptation and academic adaptation;2) the six dimensions of cross-cultural adaptation cultural identity adaption, administration service adaptation, language adaptation, daily life adaptation, language adaptation and social interaction adaptation are independent and connective to each other;3) the rate of knowing about the support services is relatively low, the utilization of support services is poor, and there is a gap between service provision and utilization;4) generally, the level of satisfaction of support services lies between "moderate" and "satisfied";5) the needs of receiving better administration service, social interaction and information support is pressing for international students in China. Based on the findings, the international students’ needs of support services were depicted comprehensively and systematically and some specific suggestions and solutions for bettering the support service for international students were put forward.