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ASSIGNMENT
INFOMAX COLLEGE OF IT AND MANAGEMENT
(NPLBEFM002)

(Managerial Communication)
HAND OUT DATE: (30/04/2019)

HAND IN DATE: (20/06/2019)

WEIGHTAGE: (50) %

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
1. Submit your assignment at the administrative counter.
2. Students are advised to underpin their answers with the use of references (cited using the
Harvard Name System of Referencing)
3. Late submissions will be awarded zero(0) unless Extenuating Circumstances are upheld.
4. Cases of plagiarism will be penalized.
5. The assignment should be bound in appropriate style (comb bound or stapled)
6. Where the assignment should be submitted in hardcopy and softcopy, the softcopy of the written
assignment and source code (where appropriate) should be on a CD in an envelope / CD cover
and attached to the hard copy.
7. You must obtain 50% overall to pass this module.
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Declaration

I, Angshu Gurung hereby declare that the report entitled “Improving Intercultural
Adaptableness of Culturally Diverse Students in an International University
Environment” submitted to Infomax College of IT and Management in affiliation with Asia
Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, is a record of an original work done by me in
the form of partial fulfillment of the requirement of Masters’ of Business Administration
(MBA) program.

I would like to make sure that this research work has not been submitted as part of any other
universities and institution for the award of any degree, diploma nor published in any media
previously. All the contents included in the research are subject to copyright.

Angshu Gurung
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A.P.U. Reg. No.: NPIMF1904MBA

Infomax College of IT and Management

Acknowledgement

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Sashidhar Baral, Course Lecturer, Infomax
College of IT and Management for his valuable guidance, encouragement, and co-operation
to support me on my research project.

I am also very grateful to Infomax College of IT and Management as well as Asia Pacific
University of Technology & Innovation for providing me the opportunity to prepare this
research report and explore my potential.

My thanks and appreciation also goes to my friends and teachers for their invaluable time,
precious suggestion and countless support during the development and designing of this
report.

Finally, I must express my profound gratitude to all the concerned people who helped me to
bring this report in this form without whom this research would have been difficult to
accomplish.
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Angshu Gurung

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i
Acknowledgement ii
CHAPTER 1 1
Introduction 1
Background 1
Problem of Statement 1
Objectives 1
CHAPTER 2 2
Literature Review 2
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CHAPTER 3 4
Methodology 4
CHAPTER 4 5
Analysis 5
CHAPTER 5 12
Conclusion 12
References 14
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Background
Students from poles apart come in a single place facing other students from completely
diverse race, religion, nationality, language patterns and perceptions. These differences create
gaps among the students, creating adaptation issues. They pose as a hurdle to effective
communication among the students, which can influence their academic performance, and
can further add to lessen gaps among distinct student groups. Hence, adaptation of students in
foreign cultural atmosphere remains a genuine issue. Therefore, it is important to know what
form of challenges they face and how they learn new cultural practices.

Problem of Statement
Intercultural diversity among students in an international university is a great challenge for
both the students and the university. The multilayered nature of culture undoubtedly affects
the behavior of human beings, which naturally leads to a handful of communication
difficulties or barriers. The communication barriers among culturally diverse students include
academic, social and cultural differences. Variations in lingua-franca, articulation of ideas
and use of non-verbal communication can be the major issues among the international
students in a foreign land. The aforementioned problems will be further discussed in this
report.

Objectives
The objectives of this essay are to:
 Identify the gaps among students led by intercultural diversities
 Propose strategies to address those gaps
 Help improve the intercultural adaptableness of those students in an international
university by presenting a set of guidelines to better endow students to be culturally
skilled.
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CHAPTER 2

Literature Review

[CITATION Che \l 1033 ] acknowledged that "as we move toward multiculturalism and
globalization, it is not only the business world that must adapt to these changes; the academic
sector must deal with the trend as well".
As globalization promotes a wider range of intercultural encounters and concerns about
promoting intercultural communication and reducing people's ethnocentric perspectives have
created considerable attention in diverse academies. Studying in another state can be an
interesting and challenging adventure for international students with many adaptation issues,
particularly those linked to educational, socio-cultural and psychological change. [ CITATION
War93 \l 1033 ]. When participating in multicultural learning they should attempt to make
academic changes in a foreign environment where there are varying styles of teacher-student
interactions, societies in the classroom, academic needs and standards, and various ideas and
meanings of what defines successful teaching and learning. [CITATION War01 \l 1033 ].
Cross-cultural communication is the major issue of multiculturalism. Communication occurs
by integrating and learning cultural symbols within the culture. It is the lack of shared
symbols and experiences that makes cross-cultural communication difficult [ CITATION
Kal92 \l 1033 ]. Studies show that variations in linguistically defined cross cultural and
interpersonal interaction discourse and the cultural distance of the participants'
communication patterns can create issues [CITATION War01 \l 1033 ].
The research claims that student learning experiences and their satisfaction with them
indicate student attitudinal results and impressions of the host institution's academic quality
[ CITATION Don96 \l 1033 ]. A substantial weight in higher education should be given to
students‘ satisfaction with, and their perceptions of, the value of their academic learning
experience that are indicative of students‘ attitudes toward the curricula, programme delivery,
quality of instruction, and learning support of the host institution [ CITATION Rau00 \l 1033
].
[ CITATION Yan06 \l 1033 ] described that intercultural adaptation includes transformations
of the traveler’s way of feeling, thinking, and behaving. According to [ CITATION Che03 \l
1033 ], intercultural adaptation referred to the process by which sojourners deal with and
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adjust to a completely new cultural environment. The closer the student culture is to that of
the host community, the easier the interaction and adjustment will be [ CITATION Meh05 \l
1033 ].
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CHAPTER 3

Methodology

It comprises the theoretical

analysis of the body of
methods and principles
associated with
a branch of knowledge.
Typically, it encompasses
concepts such as paradigm,
theoretical model,
phases and quantitative or
qualitative techniques. (
Irny and Rose, 2005)
A methodology does not
set out to provide solutions - it
is, therefore, not the same
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thing as a method. Instead, it

offers the
theoretical underpinning for
understanding which method,
set of methods or best
practices which
can be applied to specific case,
for example, to calculate a
specific result.
It comprises the theoretical
analysis of the body of
methods and principles
associated with
a branch of knowledge.
Typically, it encompasses
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concepts such as paradigm,

theoretical model,
phases and quantitative or
qualitative techniques. (
Irny and Rose, 2005)
A methodology does not
set out to provide solutions - it
is, therefore, not the same
thing as a method. Instead, it
offers the
theoretical underpinning for
understanding which method,
set of methods or best
practices which
 GURUNG

can be applied to specific case,

for example, to calculate a
specific result.
It comprises the theoretical
analysis of the body of
methods and principles
associated with
a branch of knowledge.
Typically, it encompasses
concepts such as paradigm,
theoretical model,
phases and quantitative or
qualitative techniques. (
Irny and Rose, 2005)
A methodology does not
 GURUNG

set out to provide solutions - it

is, therefore, not the same
thing as a method. Instead, it
offers the
theoretical underpinning for
understanding which method,
set of methods or best
practices which
can be applied to specific case,
for example, to calculate a
specific result.
A research methodology incorporates some paradigms and theoretical techniques, methods,
phases and procedures required to complete a research work. This study aims at exploring the
intercultural issues of culturally diverse students in an international university and methods to
address those issues and improve their intercultural adaptableness through secondary data
collected. This report includes most of the statistics and information accumulated from
secondary source of data collection. The references and resources have been introduced from
Secondary data such as various books, newspapers, journal articles, e-books and educational
and informational websites.
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CHAPTER 4

Analysis

Students, particularly from other countries encounter various challenges in international

universities due to cross-cultural barriers. To adapt to the new setting, they must cope with
individuals, environment, college, mental status, and behavioral changes. [ CITATION
WuH15 \l 1033 ] categorized their findings regarding students challenges in international
universities as academic, cultural, and social aspects.

Academic Barrier
Academic barrier is one of the prominent challenges diverse students face in international
universities. Students experience problems in interacting with their teachers because of
language obstacles, cultural differences and professors ' distinct expectations. Academic
barriers include
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 Issues with interaction with professors,

 Isolation from classmates,
 Language barrier and
 Pressure of parents’ expectations.

Firstly, students face interaction and communication problems in classroom with their
professors. Professors from host university are usually different from those of student’s home
country due to geographical factors, nationality, culture and perception. For instance,
professors in western countries like USA are friendlier and open to any questions when
students are confused or want to know more, whereas professors in the east like Korea are
more authoritative and do not like being interrupted while speaking. Immigrant students find
it difficult to interact due to such behavior of professors and remain in confusion, which
directly hamper their performance.
Another problem with interaction with professors is their evaluation and grading methods,
which might be new for immigrant students. There might be clashes between the teachers’
expectation and how differently students perform due to which students cannot participate
and interact well in the class and take longer time to adapt.
Secondly, international students have to encounter isolation in classroom or university and
their social life. Students face isolation while making friends and adjusting among them.
While some might be really good interactors and blend in easily, others might find it difficult
to communicate when others separate them from their group or friend circle. An example can
be during extra curriculum activities in universities like basketball, international students
might not be picked for teams or chosen at the last. They might not be invited by other
students to social gatherings of their class or discussion groups held by professors. Even in a
group of other international students, some students might find it difficult to make friends
when they don’t find someone of their own nationality, while others although being
international students, have a group of their own nationalities.

Thirdly, language is also a major barrier to the academic adjustment of the students. Many
Nepalese students who go to countries like US, Australian and UK, find it very challenging in
spite studying English for many years in Nepal. The language issues come from distinct
accents, speaking frequency, and dialect. Students need to invest more hours enhancing their
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English in such cases and other language in countries where English is not their main
language. Conversation with other students might be difficult due to difference in dialects,
which leads to misunderstandings, or the local students might make fun out of them instead,
which affects the international students decreasing their self-confidence. Not only with their
peers, difficulty in understanding dialects and speech makes hard for them to understand
lectures in university and communicate with anyone in the host nation as well.

Furthermore, studying in international universities, many foreign students hold expectations

of their parents, which include learning outcome of foreign language proficiency teaching
outcomes, completion of postgraduate or graduate studies, financial aid, and future
aspirations. Generally, parents of international students invested more tuition than that of
domestic students. Therefore international students have more tension to satisfy those
expectations in a short period. Due to high price of tuition for international students, they
have more stress of managing to adapt in the culturally different environment and finance in
addition than domestic students.

Social Barrier
International students experience complications not only in the classroom lectures, but also in
their personal lives. Students, while joining different social events or functions, have to deal
with distinctive communication patterns. The gift-giving ceremony for instance, is
significantly different in the western countries than in the east. It is appropriate to take and
open gifts immediately to show gratitude in the western culture. Whereas, people are not used
to opening presents in front of others in the Eastern culture. Different communication patterns
sometimes causes discomfort in international students, as they have to cope with some
awkwardness in social interactions.
Likewise, experiencing isolation and loneliness is a social barrier for international students,
especially for those students, who do not have close relatives and friends nearby. Many
experience loneliness due to difficulty in making new friends in the foreign country. Even if
they meet and communicate in university classes, they do not talk about personal matters and
therefore are not that close as they have their different close circle of friends and family.
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Cultural Barrier
International university students come from distinct culture and subculture of various
nationalities. Therefore, international students experiencing cultural shock due to the
difference in beliefs and value system is of no surprise. They need to be dealt with
differing value systems, communication styles, social contact gestures, and patterns of social
interactions when entering into a new culture. Such cultural barriers include
misunderstanding, norms, beliefs and values, stereotyping and ethnocentrism. [CITATION
Wal22 \l 1033 ] relates to stereotypes as “pictures in our heads.” It is to make assumptions
about others in advance without actually knowing or interacting with them. Similarly,
[ CITATION Sud07 \l 1033 ] implies that 'ethnocentrism is a two-part concept ' that one
culture is better than the other culture and individuals want to be like their own culture.’
Culture can be compared to an iceberg, as the behaviors can be related as the outer part of the
iceberg and the norms, beliefs and values influencing the behavior lie under the water line.
Norms are the rules defined culturally to determine what is acceptable and appropriate
behavior. People create rules for themselves and expect others to do so. Similarly, values and
beliefs vary from person to person, which depend on their distinct culture. For an example,
students from western countries like US might get offended if they have to wait for 30
minutes longer for a teacher in Asian countries like Nepal and China.
In their academic and social lives, international students are prone to suffer from prejudice
and discrimination. While stereotyping is about categorizing individuals, prejudice on the
other hand, is an acquired practice of creating set opinions or attitudes relying on such
assumptions. According to[CITATION Kum16 \l 1033 ], prejudice as a barrier to
communication is a close cousin of stereotyping.
International students are sidelined in class or in social gatherings. Students from different
cultures do not understand each other’s backgrounds; rather make conclusions about each
other. Some students may be willing to share their ideas to foster mutual understanding
across the diverse culture, but not all are willing to understand. A perfect example for such
issue can of American’s opinion about immigrants. Over the previous several years,
American society has had a significant amount of heated rhetoric about immigration,
ethnicity, and identity. The issues raised in this discussion— about citizenship, law
enforcement, and a sense of common purpose- are valid in a multi-ethnic society for people
to have [CITATION Sch11 \l 1033 ].
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Also, "Culture shock" is a word used to denote a individual's anxiety when transferring from
a contemporary culture to a completely new cultural or social environment. Some
international students may get confused by adapting to even peculiarly small cultural
variations, while others may conceal their distress and try to fit in, leading to on going
confusion. At some point, all international students will feel cultural shocks.

These challenges to intercultural communication, which are prevalent in today’s international

universities, obviously pose a challenging picture that can impact students’ study and
performance. To address such cross-cultural issues, it is essential to encourage students’
cross-cultural competence that helps in improving their adaptability. While universities often
provide support facilities to international students, other international students may benefit
from the private experiences of them, which will be helpful in identifying challenges, and
strategies to solve them.

Universities are quite benefited by international students in both financial and cultural
perspectives. Therefore, universities can help them to settle in with the help of certain
strategies and ideas.

Utilization of School Resources as the Strategy

School resources play vital role in helping international students in academic adaptation.
These facilities include associations of students, writing center, counseling unit, recreation
center, and multiple student communities. Such service centers offer students with a place to
relieve stress, find a support network and acquire strategies to address various issues. Many
foreign students, for instance, depended on library to borrow books, study in a quiet location,
and study using the lab. Students also request help for revision of paper from writing center.
As an instance, at the London School of Economics the Faith Center provides religious and
well-being activities for students and teachers of all religions, as well as encouraging
interreligious understanding through sessions and talks at extra-curricular levels. Therefore,
providing such facilities can be of great help to students for campus adjustment.

Dormitory and Campus Activities

Universities can team up international and native students in dorms and in campus activities.
Teaming them up as roommates can help them in improving their language proficiency as
well as in exploring the new culture actively. Similarly arranging blend of international and
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native students in campus activities encourages them in socialization, sharing of cultures and
to interact with native speakers. Simply put, this helps in broadening their social networking.
Many universities already have beneficial schemes in place to alleviate the stress of induction
week for international students. As an instance, Bristol University has a special welcome
program for foreign students in a specialized zone where they can meet student
representatives, get to touch with the practical side of student life, such as opening a UK bank
account, and join activities such as campus tours, ' British ' tea parties, town walks, ' speed-
friendly ' and global meeting-and-mingle activities.
Organizing country-themed activities, subsidizing excursions, film and club nights, and
employing volunteers from students can be food support network for international students.
Native students can assist new international students with subjects such as preparing
presentations or leading group conversations as well.

Language Support
Although most foreign students show proficiency in written and comprehensive English or
other host country language, they face a number of issues when having to communicate
orally in an academic setting. Furthermore, holding an orientation for international students is
also useful. Education system is very different in different countries; therefore, the orientation
would help international students’ preparation in living and studying in the host nation. In
such orientation international students are forced to meet and interact with the native students
hence, encouraging use of host country’s language.
Professors are required to have a wide knowledge of non-verbal communication appropriate
to their students’ cultural background as well. Professors should consider that for the first
time foreign students might be working unmonitored as well as coping with cultural shock
and learning without guidance until they turn in their first task for which they had to learn
and train in a different language as. A new foreign student encounters problems in adaptation;
therefore it is crucial to underestimate their stress.

Campus Counseling Services

Great reassurance for international students can be mentoring and a student ambassador
curriculum. Leeds University, for instance, has an online program that allows international
students to access from their course, nation or culture with an ambassador before arriving at
the university.
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Similarly, many foreign students do not have their family and close peers nearby and
therefore may feel isolated sometimes. Universities can provide campus-counseling services
to help provide guidance to such students and help in adjustment in the university life.

Students’ Organization
Increase in interaction with native students is important for international students to adapt in
the university environment. Hence, various programs can be organized by the university
encouraging students’ organizations to bridge international and national culture. This also
helps in reducing isolation of international students. Through this, they can enhance their
language and communication proficiencies, as well as, provide opportunities for them to
understand and adapt the university country culture.

To better experience how international students operate and learn, professors across all fields
could benefit from essential cross-cultural training. It's not simply an issue of scholastic
accomplishment and meeting the fundamental necessity for English language; understudies
from various societies have been instructed to contemplate in various ways. It's not just about
academic accomplishment and meeting the fundamental English linguistic requirement;
learners from distinct cultures have been trained to study in distinct respects. As either, they
may originally compete with academic research or group argument concept.
For instance, Asian learners often go through college with a passive style of teaching, based
on the teacher spreading knowledge and learning by memorization. Tutors can receive
training in global variations in the student learning experience; they can adjust their own
teaching strategies.

Anti-discrimination policies
Strategies to prevent any group of individuals from receiving discrimination can be
implemented by universities; whether depending on gender, nationality, religion, or any other
feature. Universities having large quantity of foreign students should also take consideration
regarding students’ requirement for special arrangements for their important cultural or
religion duties. For instance, universities can provide allowances assuring international
students not having select between education and their religious identities.

Furthermore, developing competencies and skills through training and other activities go in
vain if there is no self commitment and effort. Although, above provided suggestions for
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university programs can help improve adaptability of international students, there should be
initiative for intercultural competence by those students as well.

Students can first evaluate their own attitudes towards other nationalities, culture and ideas.
This involves initiative to understand and know about other cultures, perception and how to
act on those differences of oneself and others. They should build empathy in themselves in
order to be able to understand others views and opinion and experience what students from
other culture experience. They should focus on increasing their tolerance level as well for
factors like cultural shock due to difference in culture and perceptions.
Both international and native students should avoid stereotyping and ethnocentrism. They
should be open-minded regarding others cultures and perceptions. They should make
attempts to know each other by communicating rather than making misleading assumptions.
Also, they should actively improve the host country language for improving their
communication skills. Although universities organize various programs and activities to help
improve international student’s language competency, students volunteering for such
programs results in faster and efficient performance.
Lastly, students should develop a sense of universalism as a global citizen. They should
always aim for a mutual foundation that seeks to unite all as universal people regardless of
nationality, religion, race, culture, gender, class and physical distinctions.

CHAPTER 5

Conclusion

From the above essay, it is apparent that we are still not nearer to the point of [ CITATION
Hal76 \l 1033 ], which he introduced almost two centuries earlier: ' Man must now embark
on the difficult journey beyond culture, because the greatest separation feat of all is when one
manages to gradually release oneself from the grasp of unconscious culture.' Being of
different nationality and culture, international students have to face immense challenges at
international universities.
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International students encounter academic difficulties in terms of teaching learning activities

such as lectures, classroom-behaviors and etiquettes. Likewise, language and cultural barriers
in adjustment to their new academic and cultural environment at international universities.
They experience subjects of interaction and communication with their professors at
universities, which directly affect their academic performance. They have to deal with new
communication patterns when interacting with other students or joining different social
events. Due to differences in dialects that lead to misunderstandings, conversation with other
students may be hard, or they might be made fun of, which lowers their self-esteem and
affecting them mentally and emotionally. They face isolation while creating companions and
adapting among them. Similarly, facing isolation and loneliness is a social obstacle for
international students, particularly those students who are not near to near families and
colleagues. They are prone to suffer from prejudice and discrimination as they can be
sidelined in groups or social events. Moreover, expectation from their parents adds more
stress to the challenges faced by international students.

To address these critical challenges, international universities can implement various

strategies and programs to help students adapt in the cross cultural environment. Universities
can utilize school resources, which include association of students, writing center, counseling
unit, recreation center and multiple student communities. They can pair up native and foreign
students in dorms and other college activities and organize beneficial schemes like orientation
and welcome programs. This helps international students to interact with other students and
help improve language competencies. Language support and guidance can also be given by
university professors. Not having their family, relatives or close friends nearby makes them
feel isolated, therefore, universities can offer counseling services to help them in mentoring.
Also, to address discrimination issues, universities can implement anti-discrimination policies
to help suffering students.

Eventually, the international students themselves should be highly participative in adapting

themselves in the multicultural university environment. For this, they should first evaluate
their own attitudes and perception about others and avoid stereotyping and ethnocentrism
themselves as well. They should be willingly active in interaction with native students to
improve their language proficiency. Hence, the international students should promote their
sense of diversity and always seek for a mutual base to unite all as universal people beyond
the border of nationality, religion, race, culture, gender, class and physical distinctions.
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