Action Plan Proposal for Socio-Cultural Program for adjustment of

international students having disturbed mental health

Action Plan Proposal

Socio-cultural Program for adjustment of international
Project Title
students having disturbed mental health
International students having problems with adjustment in
Target Group
Australia due to disturbed mental health

International students face problems with their adjustment in

Australia due to factors like homesickness, unemployment,
racism, language barrier and cultural differences etc.
Difficulty in adjustment in the community and culture of the
country is one of the main problems faced by international
students (Aljaberi et al., 2021). Problems of adjustment have
negative impacts on their academic performance causing
dropout from universities. All these problems cause
disturbance of mental health of these students. Mental health
of international students shows a declining trend over years
(Langdon et al., 2019). Covid-19 pandemic has further
deterioratiod the condition by posing a burden of
unemployment, homesickness and feeling of being isolated in
these students. International students in Australia pay much
higher tuition fee than students belonging to Australia (Pekerti
et al., 2020). Unemployment with stress of paying more fee
caused much mental disturbance in these students.
During Covid-19, educational system was also reformed by
introducing flipped classrooms. International students, due to
language barrier and less technological skills, are having
problems getting educated by flipped classrooms (Singh et al.,
2021). Additionally, government biased policies during Covid-
19 have affected them. International students were excluded
 from Government policy on financial assistance during Covid-
19 pandemic (Farhoudian et al., 2020).
$60,000 have been allocated by the government for two years,
Funding Available
of which $30,000 will be consumed for this one-year project.
We will also start a volunteer funding campaign to have more
funds for better implementation and management of the
project.

Rationale and Background

International students are a good promoting factor for
economic growth of the country, but they are having many
Overall Purpose / problems which cause trouble in their adjustment. These
Rationale and include homesickness, unemployment, racism, discrimination
Relevance in accessing services and cultural disharmony. All these factors
affect their mental health negatively causing depression and
anxiety. Poor mental health also affects their performance, of
which poor academic performance is one.

Aim of Project
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to make these students
able to get adjusted in Australia. Mental health is a key factor
in adjustment and this project will also improve their mental
health. The project, not only will improve their mental health
but will also provide them with various opportunities such as
having a social circle, learn new skills or improvise the ones
they already have, get better insight of the community and
overall, a good community of surrounding people.
Aim: This project aims at helping international students with
their adjustment in this country. It also aims at improving
mental health of international students who have poor mental
health due to homesickness, depression, anxiety, etc.
The outcomes and impact of this project will be:
Outcomes / Impact  International students will have lesser difficulties in
their adjustment in Australia.
  International students involved in the project will have
a positive impact on their mental health and decreased
negative effects of the psychological issues they face.
 English speaking skills of the students will be
improved leading to better communication skills.
 They will get relieved, to much extent from
homesickness, depression, and anxiety.
 They will make new friends and they will help each
other in future whenever they need each other.
 They will have a better insight of the community they
are living in now, by community service program.
 They will have opportunity to learn new skills and
sports.

Approach

For effective implementation of the project, we will divide

Implementation activities in 6 phases. Each phase will consist of 2 months.
These activities will be conducted on weekends because of
unavailability of students on other days. Activities will be
carried out in sequence. First, we will target improvement in
mental health and English-speaking skills. So that in later
activities, students can participate as well as communicate with
other people in a good way.

Activities and Strategies

Activities:
 Month 1-2: Mental Health Awareness program
 (Phase 1): Gardening and Jogging

During these two months, all the students included in the

project will have two hours sessions of mental health
awareness. A psychologist will be hired for this. These
sessions will be interactive, students will share their ideas and
problems to each other.
After the session, in the evening, they will spend their time
doing gardening and jogging.

 Month 3-4: Linguistic improvement (English

speaking)
 (Phase 2): Swimming Classes

For the next two months, students will have classes to improve
their English speaking and comprehending skills.
Later in the day, they will have swimming classes. A
swimming pool will be booked, and a swimming coach will be
hired for this purpose.

 Month 5-6: Indoor and outdoor sports

 (Phase 3): Workshop on Photography and Art

For these two months, students will play indoor and outdoor
sports according to their interest. For outdoor games like
basketball, football and lawn tennis, grounds will be booked.
For indoor games like table tennis, badminton and squash,
respective courts will be booked. Later at evening, students
will have workshop on photography and arts.

 Month 7-8: Community Service Program

 (Phase 4): Workshop to learn use of advanced
technology
 Meditation Classes and Yoga

Community Service program will be formulated. Students will

spend two hours in community service to have better insight of
the community.
Students will have workshops for learning use of advanved
technological skills.
Later they will have meditation and yoga classes for which a
 yoga trainer will be hired.

 Month 9-10: Social Dinner

 (Phase 5): Musical Night

Social dinner will be arranged. Students will have more time to

spend with each other and get to know each other. This will
improve their communication skills.
Musical night will be arranged, a musician will be invited.
Students can sing themselves.

 Month 11-12: Carnival and Cultural Eve

 (Phase 6): Vine tour
 Recognitions and Recommendations

Cultural events and carnival will be arranged making students

get to know of each other's culture. This will help reduce the
culture gap between them. Vine tour will be arranged as well.
Near to end of the project, team members will be bucked up,
recommendations to perform better academically and keep
better mental health will be given.
Project is designed for a total of 12 months. A pair of activities
Project Timeline will be carried out for 2 months, dividing total time in 6
phases.

Stakeholders of this project will be:

 Australian Government
Stakeholders  International Students
 Our team of 4 members
 Administration of International Colleges in Australia
 Volunteers in the project, individual or voluntary group
Total budget allocated by the government for two years is $60,000,
for one year project $30,000 will be consumed.
 Details of consumption of money is:

• $3000 for transport facilities

•$3000 for food
•$3000 for social dinner and musical night
Budget •$3000 for sports and swimming classes
•$5000 for cultural events and carnival
•$5000 for vine tour and picnics
•$4000 for mental health interventions
•$3000 for linguistic classes and arts workshops
•$1000 for miscellaneous purposes

Project Management

For management of the project and efficient implementation, we will

divide work between 4 of our team members and any volunteers, if
interested.

Work decided for each member is as:

 First Member: First member will take
responsibility of arranging community hall,
Project Management grounds for sports, swimming pool, place for
and Implementation parties and events.
 Second Member: Second member will arrange
transport for the participants whenever they will be
going for any event or for attending any activity.
 Third Member: Third member will take
responsibility of managing food and drinks for
participants.
 Fourth Member: Fourth member will take
responsibility of arranging cultural events,
carnival, and costumes for the participants.

How to you plan to evaluate the project?

 Outcome Method Who will Stage of
conduct it project
Mental Observation of Team During 1st
Monitoring and health behaviour of members and and 2nd
Evaluation improvement participants psychologist month
before and
after program
Linguistic Analysis of Team During 3rd
improvement improvement Members and 4th
in English and month
speaking Volunteers
Cultural Involvement Team During 11th
adjustment with people of members and and 12th
other cultures volunteers month

Sustainability of the project will be described in presentation,

however, to give a brief view, the project will be kept
sustainable by proper feedback from the enrolled international
students by asking questions such as:

 Do you think these activities are helpful?

Sustainability
 Are you feeling a better state of mind by getting
involved in these activities?

Additionally, to make the project sustainable:

 Individual feedback of every activity will be taken.
 Day to day monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes
will be done at different intervals.
 Activities not being fruitful will be replaced by other
activities having better outcomes.
Annex A:

Budget Expenditure

Item Details Cost Total

Art Therapist 1 x 2-hour session $100 per session x $4,000
40 sessions
Swimming Coach 1×2-hour session $200×8 sessions $1600

Psychologist 2×4-hour session $500×8 sessions $4000

Yoga Trainer 1×2-hour session $200×10 sessions $2000

Annex B: Timeline

Quarters (3-month blocks)

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Key Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 11 12
0
Hiring Psychologist
* * * * * *
Booking Transport
* * * * * * * * * * *
Hiring sports grounds
* * * * * *
Hiring place for events
* * * * * *
Hiring hall for gathering
* * * * * * * * *
Booking gymnasium for yoga
* * * * * *
 References
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