Being Student in a Foreign Country: Adaptation Problems and Solution Strategies

Being Student in a Foreign Country: Adaptation Problems and Solution Strategies

There are many factors affecting psychology, motivation and successstatus of students. Especially with fast communication in the global world, thesefactors spread more quickly and takes broad masses under influence. Individualsstudying in a geography different than their country have to adapt to a newgeography, climate and culture besides ordinary charges that every studentconfronts in education process. In the context of this study examining educationprocess of foreign students, the adaptation problems of foreign students studying in2018 at Iğdır University and their coping strategies are emphasized. The studyincluded 122 foreign students enrolled at Iğdır University. Two data collectionmethods are used in the work. One is a field survey technique based on quantitativedata, other is a questionnaire using Michigan Foreign Student Problem Inventory.According to findings, essential problems encountered by foreign students arerelated to housing, socio-cultural activity facilities, relations with institutions, healthinsurance and leisure activities. In this study, it has been investigated whether thereare significant differences between adaptation problems that students face anddemographic variables such as age, gender, nationality, education level, educationfield, income sources, type of accommodation, the duration of living in Iğdır, and ithas been tried to determine the coping strategies developed by these studentsagainst problems they face.

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