Sink or Swim: Korean Graduate Students' Adjustment Process to U.S. Institutions

• In Event: 53.043 - Comparative Higher Education: Critical and Global Approaches

Abstract

There has been little research on exploring challenges and issues faced by Korean graduate students as sojourner scholars in the US despite their ever-growing numbers. In addition to language barriers and homesickness, Korean international students experience a unique set of challenges in the course of their studies, given their contrasting culture deeply affected by Confucianism. Moreover, it has been reported that areas of study matter in international students’ adjustment process to US institutions, with the English language playing a major role. Through semi-structured interviews and employing the characteristics of Ground Theory, the current study aims to identify issues that are specific to Korean graduate students and to distinguish them among different areas of study, especially between STEM vs. non-STEM areas.

Author

• Haein Oh, The University of Texas - Austin