Degree Name

MA in International Education

First Advisor

Alla Korzh

Abstract

In order to understand the international student experience and improve future orientation programming, international students attending the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington who attended the Fall 2015 Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) International Student Orientation shared their experiences regarding their arrival process. Through a series of post orientation surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews I attempted to answer the following questions: “What are the experiences of international students at the FIUTS Fall 2015 International Student Orientation?” and “What aspects of the orientation programming can be modified to address the needs and challenges that international students face during their transition to life in United States and studying at the University of Washington?” As the Orientation Assistant for the fall 2015 orientation, I was in charge of the planning, facilitation, and evaluation of the entire program of more than 2,300 incoming freshman, exchange, transfer, graduate, professional students, and visiting scholars that came to the university. The major findings unearthed the highlights of the student orientation experiences, revealed the challenges that international students faced on their arrival, garnered suggestions they had to improve future programming, and identified the resources they used and found most important during their acclimation process to the UW and the U.S. Themes included overall student satisfaction with the orientation programming and social events, resources used frequently by international students, the quality of information sessions attended by international students, challenges faced upon arrival into the United States and their suggestions regarding a resource fair for next year. Gathering the feedback from international students helped FIUTS understand how to refine and modify their programming for their Fall 2016 International Student Orientation programming.

Disciplines

Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Higher Education | Student Counseling and Personnel Services

Share

Image Location

 
COinS