The Effects Of Reverse Culture Shock On Study Abroad Students

Study abroad programs offer a variety of opportunities for student growth and development. These opportunities exist in the conceptualization of intercultural competency, a student’s realization of the global world, and how this ultimately informs their sense of meaning-making. However, studying abroad can also lead to students experiencing a phenomenon known as reserve culture shock that can lead to increased feelings of loneliness, depression, alienation from their home culture. This project examines how study abroad promotes larger concepts of intercultural competency and global learning while also engaging with the phenomenon of reverse culture shock and how faculty, professional staff, and students may reflect upon these experiences to promote holistic development and cross-cultural understanding.

This book provides the first academically rigorous description and critical analysis of the Higher Education system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and of the vision, strategies and policy imperatives for the future development of Saudi universities. The government of Saudi Arabia has recognized in both policy and practice the necessity of developing its university system to world-class standard. Significantly increasing access and participation in Higher Education across a range of traditional and non-traditional disciplines is directly relevant to the future social and economic growth of the country. This book addresses the way in which Saudi Arabia is moving to develop a quality university system that balances the need for students to gain the knowledge, skills and ‘ways of doing’ necessary to operate effectively on the world stage while simultaneously maintaining and demonstrating the fundamental values of the Islamic religion and culture. The book provides a description and critical analysis of the key components of the Saudi Higher Education system, and of system-level responses to the challenges and opportunities facing Saudi universities. It is written by a team of Saudi academics and authors of international standing from non-Saudi universities so as to provide both internal and external perspectives on all issues and to place information and ideas in the context of the international Higher Education scene.

Incorporates over a decade of new research and material on coping with the causes and consequencs that instigate culture shock, this can occur when a person is transported from a familiar to an alien culture.

This book examines the effects of a study abroad experience on students' culture and identity and the impact of these effects on their readjustment to their home culture. It explores issues of culture and identity from the perspective of French students studying in Australia. Issues of perceived cultural proximity between France and Australia, a relative lack of prior knowledge of the host country before the period of study and the impact of distance all influence aspects of these students' experiences. Employing long-term and cross-sectional studies focusing on culture shock, reverse culture shock and cultural identity issues, the author investigates the cyclical journey of French academic sojourners and examines the impact of the acculturation and repatriation processes and the language experiences on their perceptions of cultural identity. Once the students had traversed the difficult stages of culture shock and reached the stage of full recovery (adjustment), they no longer wished to go home. What impact has this process had on the returnees who faced the insularity of their home society once they returned home? Is the French community beginning to acknowledge the start of a brain-drain of the educated French overseas? What are the implications for borderless higher education? What value should be placed on pre-departure preparation from participating institutions and the individuals themselves, both on a linguistic and a psychological level? This book poses questions relating to these issues.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Culture, Technology, Nations, grade: 60, Sheffield Hallam University (Sheffield Hallam University), course: Sociology planing and Policy, language: English, abstract: The main aim of this research is to describe the culture shock and stress, to explore the means of reducing the cultural shock and pressure that is experienced by international students in the United Kingdom and to explain the benefits of studying abroad. In addition, the research design employed a qualitative methodology. After getting consent, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with male participants and the data gathered from three interviewees chosen on the basis of different demographic backgrounds, being from the United Kingdom. The thematic analysis method is to analyse transcribed data. The results of this exploratory research of culture shock and stress; many themes have been specified and explained; such as language, food, weather, dress, education system, technology, and transportation. They are related to the sources of the culture shock, the effect of shock on the international students and the attempts to reduce the culture shock. Also, several themes have been specified, explained and analysed below in terms of sources of pressure, that influence of international students in the UK during studies such as language, academics, differences of culture and homesickness. Also, some benefits of study abroad and methods to decrease stress have been given.

This book looks at the movements of immigrants and refugees and the challenges they face as they cross cultural boundaries and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. It focuses on the psychological dynamic underpinning of their adaptation process, how their internal conditions change over time, the role of their ethnic and personal backgrounds, and of the conditions of the host environment affecting the process. Addressing these and related issues, the author presents a comprehensive theory, or a "big picture,"of the cross-cultural adaptation phenomenon.