Examining Chinese Postgraduate Students’ Academic Adjustment in the UK Higher Education Sector: a Process-Based Stage Model

Quan, R.; He, X.; Sloan, D.

Abstract

The current theories relating to international student transition have largely tended to concentrate on what is to be adapted. This research contributes to the pedagogic literature examining how the transition is made by international postgraduate students. Using data from 20 qualitative in-depth interviews in conjunction with observations of teaching sessions and the researchers’ field notes, we discovered a process-based stage model which identifies a step-by-step approach at a micro-level of academic transition. Our findings extended the prior stage modes to incorporate students’ pre-arrival experience and claim that the pre-departure stage plays a crucial role on Chinese students’ later academic adjustment in the UK. The finding of our four-stage-model helps not only higher education institutions increasing sensitivity to the design of study programmes and induction provision but provides practical implications for recruitment agents that attempt to engage students’ pre-arrival preparations in terms of enhancing their marketing strategy in the long term.

Citation

Quan, R., He, X., & Sloan, D. (2016). Examining Chinese Postgraduate Students’ Academic Adjustment in the UK Higher Education Sector: a Process-Based Stage Model. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(3), 326-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1144585

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 14, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Feb 12, 2016
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jan 15, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 12, 2017
• Journal: Teaching in Higher Education
• Print ISSN: 1356-2517
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-1294
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 326-343
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1144585
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1422439