Murekian, Octavio and Del Mar Mena Ospina, Nataly (2025) Navigating acculturation: supporting inclusive success for international students. In: Learning and Teaching Festival 2025: "Transformative Education: Integrating Perspectives for Inclusive and Sustainable Excellence", 26th June, 2025, University of Greenwich, London.

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Abstract

This presentation addresses the complex challenge of how international students acculturate within the UK higher education system, with a focus on London’s uniquely multicultural academic landscape. Despite being celebrated as a global education hub, London institutions still face disparities in institutional readiness to support culturally diverse learners. Language barriers, psychological strain, and unfamiliar pedagogical norms disproportionately impact international students' academic and emotional wellbeing , creating a pressing need for more inclusive, sustainable support mechanisms. Drawing on original research involving netnographic analysis of student forums this study proposes a hybrid acculturation framework that integrates Berry’s (1997) acculturation theory with the emerging netnographic findings. It identifies five critical dimensions impacting acculturation: linguistic challenges, emotional stress, institutional support, peer networks, and student agency. It also discusses strategies that universities might employ to mitigate these issues. The presentation will showcase tangible findings: for instance, universities offering academic English workshops, part time employment, volunteering, and peer mentoring saw better student adaptation and satisfaction. Furthermore, online communities such as Reddit and The Student Room emerged as unrecognised yet powerful digital spaces for emotional support and academic exchange. This work is aligned with the festival theme by presenting inclusive educational strategies grounded in lived student experiences. It reimagines resilience not as an individual trait but as a collaborative outcome shaped by inclusive pedagogies, digital platforms, and institutional practices. It urges higher education to employ hybrid, intersectional, and student-informed approaches across curricula, wellbeing services, and orientation programming. The presentation will conclude with actionable insights into how policy, pedagogy, and digital engagement can be leveraged to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment for international students, enhancing not only individual success but also the collective excellence of UK higher education in an increasingly interconnected world.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	international students, acculturation
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) L Education > L Education (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Greenwich Business School Greenwich Business School > School of Management and Marketing Greenwich Business School > Tourism and Marketing Research Centre (TMRC)
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2025 11:57
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51067

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