Greetings from Michigan! This is a timely blog entry, as I will be discussing news from Chinese students within the region.
Pan Fangdi, Muge Niu, and Miao Ci have created a wonderful series of videos to share their experience as students in the American Midwest. They cover a variety of topics ranging from current events to culture differences, such as “Why Chinese Student’s don’t Party.”
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that surveys conducted at other universities in the region showed that many Chinese students have no American friends and do not participate in conventional university life activities, such as attending sporting events. The University of Iowa has started training Chinese students as psychological crisis helpline counselors after it was found that overseas Chinese students were using the service more than other groups. Thankfully, universities are starting to notice that students who may have been outgoing in China may become anxious and withdrawn during their time overseas. In a recent interview, Ye Du commented that “But here I became the shy girl. It changes your personality.” The University of Iowa also runs the Friends of International Students association, which is such a fantastic idea. The association aims for every international student to have the opportunity to make American friends. The group recognizes that international students may struggle with English language and new academic demands. I think it’s excellent that they are offering venues for domestic students to make international friends and for international students to have a way to get support from their peers.
I have mentioned previously on this blog that many universities inadvertently segregate international students from domestic students. Most international students tend to be housed together in the ‘international student dorm’ and the first university events are often just for international students. When I was a study abroad student in the UK, I was placed in the international student halls, near other Americans, in a British Culture class with other Americans and then sent on weekly bus trips with other Americans. I appreciated all the attention, but I had to make a real effort to make British friends. By the end of the year, I noticed that most of the American students were still socializing only with the people they had met during the first few weeks. Therefore, I’m not surprised at all when Chinese students graduate from an overseas university with only Chinese friends.
Many international students enroll in a summer ESL course, so by the time autumn classes start many Chinese students have joined in with a group of fellow Chinese students, are living with other Chinese students and have been on university sponsored trips specifically for international students before they even have a chance of meeting local friends.
Finally, international students are often unaware that they can join clubs related to their major without having a leadership role. While working with Chinese postgraduate students, I found that most were new to facebook (for obvious reasons) and didn’t know how to search for university events and clubs through facebook or the university’s website. If more universities promoted links between international and domestic students like the University of Iowa, then international students would be able to learn these things from their local classmates.
There needs to be a distinction between welcoming international students and integrating them. As Cecilia Miao comments on her blog, their university has one orientation for domestic students and one for international students. Although it’s understandable that certain paperwork only applies to each group, the first week of classes can really set the tone for the rest of the year. While international students are stuck in day long meetings about how to open a bank account or set up a phone, domestic students are hosting parties, signing up for clubs and just getting out and meeting people.
She also points out that these methods are “encouraging self-segregation for foreign students to see the ethnic student organizations as the only places they can belong to.” I noticed this problem myself while at a university postgraduate residence hall over the summer. The Chinese Student Association – and only the Chinese Student Association – was invited to visit and recruit students. The postgraduate students were completely unaware about how to find other clubs to join. International students are given too much information during the ‘welcoming’ orientation, but not enough information throughout the academic year to help them truly integrate and enjoy university life. Perhaps if further information was sent out during the academic year, such as how to join clubs or arrange plans over the Christmas break, international students wouldn’t feel so isolated.
