Supporting international students in UK Higher Education: key issues, and recommendations for further research

Abstract

The aim of this review is to give as full a picture as possible of the issues which affect international students on taught courses in the UK. By ‘international students’ I mean all students who are domiciled outside the UK, including EU students, who are often treated differently in the literature.

Because one of the criticisms of existing research is that it lacks insight into the political, economic and organisational context (Pelletier 2003), this review begins with an overview of UK HE policies over the past 3 decades which have impacted on the way institutions perceive and deal with international students. The second section outlines non-academic issues which may affect international students’ academic performance, well-being, and satisfaction with their experience of UK HE. The third and main section of the review deals with the academic challenges which face international students. Finally, I make some recommendations for future research.

This review is accompanied by a small-scale survey of international students at the University of Wolverhampton, and references to this are made in the footnotes where appropriate. Owing to limitations of space and time, I have chosen to focus primarily on UK-based studies. We are however far behind our New World counterparts regarding pedagogical research into international student affairs.