Date of Completion

2017

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Grossman School of Business

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Chun Zhang

Second Advisor

Srini Venugopal

Keywords

cultural adjustments, study abroad, international students, regret, support, communication skills

Abstract

This article identifies key factors that contribute to successful cultural adjustments of Chinese international students at the University of Vermont (UVM). Cultural adjustments are factors which an individual faces when adapting to a different environment than the one they are accustomed to. Forty-seven students, ranging in age from 18 to 23 (62.2% business students, 57.4% female) participated in a survey that measured personality factors, social support, communication skills, job preparation and satisfaction. This study relates these components to a student’s perceived level of confidence communicating in English (both written and speaking), perceived support, and amount of regret felt towards studying abroad. As studying abroad has become an increasingly popular phenomenon, understanding the transitions that many students confront when traveling to a new country has become more and more important. Analysis shows that increased feelings of support and greater confidence in communication skills results in a lesser amount of regret. Additionally, a student’s satisfaction with their grades, academic experience and campus life overall were highly correlated with communication skills and support. Surprisingly, the lowest amount of regret was felt from students with low confidence in their communication skills, but perceived high amounts of support.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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