"Nobody Has Ever Spoken to Me About These Things Before": Experiences of African Graduate Students

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Abstract

This paper examines the experiences of African graduate students studying in a higher education institution in the US. In doing so, it sought to establish the meanings that these graduate students make out of their experiences navigating the complexities of the US educational system. In that regard, an interpretive phenomenological approach was used in order to allow the participants make their own meaning out of their experiences. Four individual interviews were conducted as the primary means of data collection for the study and is consistent with the phenomenological approach. The results shows that African graduate students face a plethora of issues which makes them feel excluded and lack voice in the social context that they find themselves.

Author

• Kwame Owoahene Acheampong, University of Georgia