International Mobility and Cultural Adjustment †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the International Mobility and Cultural Adjustment. Answer: Introduction Globalisation has shortened the gap between the countries in wide range aspects. However, only thing that is in the focus is the economy. The growth in economy due to the globalisation has affected many other aspects of the society. Hence, money is not the only thing that is flowing across the borders. Skill and knowledge is another major product that is freely flowing between the nations as the students are relocating themselves. This particular factor has considerably grown in the recent decade. The students from around the world, especially Asia is moving to the western countries seeking higher education. It is assumed that various other factors are playing important role in mobility of the students. Moreover, the students who are relocating themselves in the new countries are also facing cultural shock, which is also a concern. There lies a distinct gap between the home students and the foreign one. These factors will be addressed in this research. This proposal is comprised of t he review of literature on the mentioned topic along. It further communicates the research objective and question that this research seeks to answer. The last part of the proposal narrates the significance of the research, methods opted, ethics considered and the problems identified from the review that needs attention. Study conducted by Choudaha and Chang (2012) reveals that the trends in students international mobility are considerably growing over time. Their study evidences that the number of students moving outside of their home country for higher education has grown to 5 million over last decade compared to 2.1 million in 2000 (Choudaha and Chang 2012). They hold globalisation as the changing factor in the trend. It was the elites who previously could afford or were interested in higher education. The trend of moving abroad for higher education is now after globalisation is seen in the middle class population. Findlay et al (2012) interviewed a large number of UK students enrolled in six different universities to understand the motivation worked within them for going abroad for higher studies. The above table reflects that the determination working among the students for receiving world-class education is far greater than the rest of the motivational factors enlisted. The second greatest factors working for the students moving outside their home countries for higher education is the adventure. Hence, desire for adventure also drives the students for international education. The other significant motivations that can be considered is the process are international career, limited opportunity for specific discipline, fees structure and family encouragement. Choudaha, Chang and Kono (2014) on contrary holds globalisation, political power of the country and world economy responsible for increasing the students international mobility rate. A recent study on the united States economy carried out by De Wit (2015) reflects that the revenue generated by the states form the international students per year is around US$17.8 billion. This also reflects the increased competition. It extended to the sender countries. They are taking part in sending the talents to study abroad and recruiting them back in the reputed positions. It resolves the economic issues for faced by the potential middle-income group students who desire to receive international education as they are supported by their countries in the matter (De Wit 2015). Asia in relation to Students mobility Shields (2013) studied students international mobility in terms of globalization and identified that the number of students who tends to move outside home country is greater in case of Asia. His study reflects a percentage of 53 on the overall students international mobility are from Asia. One out of six students that moves out for education is from China and India. However, these countries are also increasing strengths in their educational institutes to encourage the international students. Japan seeks to increase their strength to 300,00 for the global students by 2020, whereas, Malaysia seeks to elevate the number to 250,000 by the end of 2024 (Shields 2013). Tran (2016) supported the Shields conclusion of international students being mobilized from the Asian countries. His study confirms that the international students within the universities of Canada, UK, Australia and US are coming from India and China (Tran 2016). The institutions are now focusing to shift this trend and attract more diversified audience. This diversification is required for stabilizing the sources. It is a backup plan for ensuring the enrolment of international students in their institutes. It also facilitates in increasing the quality of their education, as a diversified students group will enrich the institution with diversified culture. Wei (2013) on the other hand various determinants that makes a country attractive for the international students. According to his work An empirical study on the determinants of international student mobility: a global perspective, the attraction works separately for the developing and developed countries. As per Weis work, the international students of developing countries consider both the educational and economic opportunities before selecting a country potential education destination. The developed countries on the other hand only seek the educational standards of the hosting countries for selecting it as destination country. Gonzlez, Mesanza and Mariel (2011) explain the functional perspective of these determinants. It is due to the factors that the students from the developing countries seek job security in the host countries. Whereas, the international students from the developed countries only seek quality education in their destination country as there is ample amount of job opportunity in their home country (Hitchcock 2012). Issues Faced by International Students Diversified issues have been identified due to the mobility of the students out of their home country. The first issue as identified by De Wit (2015) is the dissimilarities faced by the international students in the foreign grounds. The students not only face these dissimilarities in their daily lives, but it is present in the educational system itself. The international students are discriminated within the education system. This process as described by psychologists is culture shock, acculturation and intercultural modification (De Wit 2015). Bilecen (2014) argued that culture shock is inevitable as it occurs due to the shift from home culture to an alien culture. The cultural signs and symbols in the home country is different from the foreign country. Hence, the students need time for learning and adopting in foreign culture, which is referred as acculturation. They need to modify their cultural learning according to the second culture where they have to live for the duration of the course. However, the discrimination can be controlled by entertaining them for the time being, until they are adapted to the new cultural settings (Hitchcock 2012). Growing Demand of Post Graduate Students The number of international students is considerably growing over past decade and it is likely to grow in near future. As per the calculation proposed by Fenton-Smith and Humphreys (2015), number of enrolment of Indian and Chinese students in the postgraduate courses in Britain and Australia is likely to reach its peak by 2024 (De Wit 2015). Students from these countries will be the major contributors in economies their economy and are likely to fill 60% of their international seats in institutions. However, the report presented by She and Wotherspoon (2013) reflects that the number of outbound students from China, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Indonesia etc. is likely to fall in the near future (De Wit 2015). This is due to the strategies these countries are implementing in their higher education system. They are now seeking to evolve their education systems to hold their students within the boundaries and increase the number of inbound international students in their country. This was evi denced in the year 2015, when the United States education system witnessed a significant fall in the number of Chinese students applying for the courses offered in the US institutions. Moreover, the demand for vocational training and education has considerably increased over the last few years (De Wit 2015). The students are now leaning towards the vocational training in the competitive market to gain access to the short-term benefits offered by these courses (De Wit 2015). This resulted into a significant fall in the demand of postgraduate courses around the world. The nature of job requirements have also changed and are now seeking prerequisite of post-secondary nature. The estimation of Shields (2013) proposes that the companies in US will be filling one-third of their vacancies with these requirements. This will considerably effect the post graduation programs stipulation (Kell and Vogl 2012). The existing literatures reflect the statistics of outbound students. They represent the sources of outbound international students and their destination. Many scholars have also focused on the determinants working for these international students in their selection process (Kell and Vogl 2012). However, only a few studies exists that addresses the issues they are facing in their foreign settings. However, some have identified the issues did not mentioned any of the solutions to dilute the issue the students are undergoing. Hence, it is important study in-depth on the cultural adjustments required for the international students in their new cultural settings (Kell and Vogl 2012). Research Objective To identify the factors causing the recent growth in students international mobility To critically discus statistics related to international mobility of the student To identify the direction of the flow of student relocating for higher education To identify the impact of culture on the relocated students What are the reasons behind the recent growth in students international mobility? How other factors of globalization is affecting in students mobility? What are the cultural implications in the issue? What cultural adjustments the students have to go through? How can the students overcome the cultural shock? Significance of the Research At present time, the students are relocating themselves in new countries in order to gain access into better education. Various factors like economic, political and cultural plays important role in the relocation. It is important to understand these driving forces in the process to control the flow. This trend of students international mobility however, causing various issues. The students are facing challenges after relocating themselves into new countries on various grounds (Hitchcock 2012). The researchers assume the cultural variation is one of the major issue concerned. Hence, it is important to identify the cultural problems associated with the relocation. This will facilitate the teachers and psychologists to understand the issues that are occurring due to the reason and help in assisting the students in the process of recovery. It has further implications in assisting the researcher for identifying methods of eradicating the issues (Hitchcock 2012). Research methodology is that segment of a research paper that communicates two major questions that are the process of data collection and the process of data analysis (Flick 2015). According to Sekaram and Bougie (2016) research methodology is that systematic process, which communicates the structure the structure of the report. The following will describe the research design, data collection and analysis method that will be beneficial for this particular research project. It is all together a strategy chosen for addressing the research problem. This communicates the methodology of the research in a structural process. It is composed of six different layers (Hitchcock 2012). Each layer communicates different methodologies incorporated in the research like the first narrates the research philosophy whereas the second provides the details on research approach. It is called research onion as it carries the characteristics of an onion. Research Philosophy The belief structure narrates the mode of data collection, analysis and utilisation. There are four basic philosophies that currently exist, which are realism, interpretivism, positivism and post-positivism. The first philosophy holds the idea that the reality is independent of human mind that uses scientific method in the process of knowledge build up. Direct and critical realism are the two subsection of realism. The former formulates the idea that human mind is able to portray the real world (Hitchcock 2012). Critical on the other hand holds the view that personal senses do not has the capability of portraying the real world. Interpretivism on the other had is a combination of hermeneutics, phenomenology and constructive (Kell and Vogl 2012). This philosophy considers social construct as the basis for accessing the reality. Positivism on the other hand talks about the truth and helps in uncovering it by gaining knowledge of the topic being studied. Post-positivism contradicts the idea of positivism (Eriksson and Kovalainen 2015). It considers the scientific thought as a separate entity and does not relate with the normal life thinking. Researcher will be using the philosophy offered by the concept of positivism. This is due to the need of the researcher in uncovering the truth of the issue. It will help the researcher identifying the factors causing the international mobility and how culture affects the process. Deductive and inductive approaches are the two approaches a researcher can adopt. The first one helps in validating the existing theories, whereas, the second helps the researcher in introducing altogether a new theory (Waltmanet al. 2012). The deductive approach will be beneficial as this particular research seeks to identify causes of the issue of the students while they are shifting from one country to another for educational purposes. A researcher can use either primary or secondary or both the methods of data collection for a single research. Both the methods in this case show potential benefits. The data can be collected using two basic methods that are qualitative and qualitative data collection (Hitchcock 2012). The former involves interview schedules and open ended question that will be implemented in this case. It is important to gather this unquantifiable data to understand the situation the students are experiencing. This method can be implemented on the students, as they are the primary stakeholders of this research (Payne and Dorn 2013). Focused group interview in this case is selected as this has the potential to provide cumulative experience of the students. Whereas, the quantitative method that are proposed to implement involves surveys and questionnaires for collect the quantifiable data. It is possible for the researcher to implement these methods either independently or all together. If any particu lar method is independently implemented for the sake of data collection, it is called mono method. Mixed method on the other hand refers to the use of multiple methods for extracting data from the respondents (Palinkaset al. 2015). Multiple similar methods used for extracting qualitative data are called multi method qualitative. Same goes for the extraction of quantitative data. Moreover, use of both qualitative and quantitative method is referred as multi method complex. This study will be requiring a mixed method for data collection (Hitchcock 2012). For the analysis of the collected data, researcher requires to incorporate a range of analytical tool. Thematic analysis method will be incorporated in this case to identify the pattern in the answers received from the respondents in order to analyse the qualitative data (Miles, Huberman and Saldana 2013). The data collected will be categorised under various themes and analysed accordingly for understanding the source of the issue. Quantitative data analysis on the other hand involves the interpretation of data received form closed ended questionnaire. The researcher needs different graphs and tools for analysing the quantitative data (Treiman 2014). The data should be put in those graphs and charts to receive results that will later be assumed for reaching a particular conclusion. The dependent and independent variables are then put into the regression tool for analysing. Furthermore, Pearsons regression correlation tool will be used in this research, as tool will facilitate in iden tification of the negativity or positivity in the relationship of the variables. The regression tool also has limitation as it cannot identify the extent of relationship between the variables (Cameron and Trivedi 2013). The final step of data analysis is the hypothesis testing that identifies the significance of the relationship that has been identified between the variable. In other words, hypothesis testing tool helps in validating the analysed data (Treiman 2014). As it becomes hard for the researcher to work with a large amount of data collected from the overall population for a single research, they use a smaller population instead. This smaller target population within the overall population is called sample. This sample contains all the characteristics present in the overall population (Treiman 2014). Hence, results received from the sample population can be considered as the result for the overall population. There are two basic methods of sampling used by the researchers, which are probabilistic sampling and non-probabilistic sampling. The non-probabilistic sampling is the process where the researcher systematically selects a favoured sample based on different criterions (Treiman 2014). The error margin in this type of sample is considerably high compared to the other sampling method. Probabilistic sampling method that has be selected for the research is a random sampling technique where the sample is randomly chosen out of the overall p opulation (Treiman 2014). Simple random sampling and statistical random sampling are the two methods exist within the probabilistic sampling. The authenticity of the data is high in this case as the sample selected for research is an outcome of completely random process (Levy and Lemeshow 2013). Simple random sampling will be beneficial for conducting this particular research. Moreover, the study will be focusing on the students of AIM business school due to the accessibility. The study will further highlight international students belonging from the entire globe placing special emphasis on the ones belonging form the Asian countries like India and China as they are greater in number. Ethical Consideration It is one of the critical considerations while conducting a research. The researcher should be concern about keeping the identity of his or her informants confidential to protect their interest. It will also help in keeping the informants safe in their personal and professional life. Secondly, the researchers must never force their informants for extracting data as it may affect the authenticity of the data. One must not manipulate the information source and the data coming from the respondent should be an uninterrupted free flow. Lastly, researchers must always gain copy right before using someone elses data and acknowledge them. All the mentioned ethics have been considered while preparing this report (Milleret al. 2012). The research follows the guideline proposed by Miller et al (2012), and data collection is guided accordingly. Prior approval will be taken from both the students and the institution. This will avoid the ethical issue of forced data collection. The confidentiality of the respondents will be maintained and will not be revealed in the report or any other publication. The secondary data collected from the existing literatures are properly cited to avoid plagiarism or charges of data theft. The following research is based both on primary and secondary resources. Hence, it is necessary for the researcher to consider number resources in the process of data collection the completion of the research work. The secondary resources that have been used are the university library database and internet. The journal articles, books, magazines and newspapers that are available in the library are considered and utilised in the research (Matthews and Ross 2014). The internet sources used for the research are Google Scholar, academy of management and advanced institute of management. These are used for retrieving the books, journal articles and peer-review articles for the research. Various government website, newspaper articles, blogs, videos etc. are used for the collection of data for the research. The secondary resources are limited to the above-mentioned resources to maintain the authenticity and accuracy of the gathered data. The primary resources on the other hand are the unive rsity students, teachers and the faculties, who are directly related with the research topic (Matthews and Ross 2014). Anticipated Problems and Way Out This research aims to address the cultural issues faced by the international students in mobilising to the foreign countries and alien cultures. It is natural for them to receive a cultural shock for the first few weeks, as they have to learn the signs and symbols of the new culture they enter into (Banks 2015). Aim of the research is to address the issue in the global level, which is both costly, and time consuming. It will be impossible for the researcher to visit all the destinations and collect primary data from the international students around the world (Banks 2015). This problem can however be resolved easily. The cultural shock faced by the students will be culture specific. This means, the student belonging from a specific culture might face similar adjustment issue, wherever they go. However, it might be false. However, it is likely to be same if they go to UK, US or Australia, which are the significant destination countries for Asian students (Banks 2015). Hence, studying students belonging from each cultural background will provide more or less similar results. Moreover, it is important to understand the culture of the international students. Hence, studying individual culture will provide desired results. Time Scale Main activities/ stages Month November 2017 Month December 2017 Month January 2018 Month February 2018 Month March 2018 Month April 2018 Selection of topic Constructing the research layout Literature review Selection of Appropriate Research Techniques Development of research Plan Collecting data from secondary sources Primary data collection Analysis Interpretation of Data which are collected Conclusion Development of Draft Final Work submission Conclusion The number of outbound students is increasing over time and has reflected a significantly growth in past decade. Moreover researchers have identified the Asia as the biggest suppliers of outbound students for the institutions in UK, US, Australia and similar countries. A number of researchers have worked on the aspects of growth, cause and determinants for this outbound transaction. However, only a few studies exist identifying the cultural aspect of this issue. The students are evidenced to face cultural shock in the alien cultures. Hence, this report will address the mentioned issue. It will identify the cultural adjustments the students need in their relocation. The proposed methods will be utilised in the process of research. The research will further be carried out according to the above-mentioned time schedule. The researcher might further face issues as mentioned in the discussion. However, it will be possible to resolve such issues following the proposal made. References Banks, J.A., 2015.Cultural diversity and education. Routledge. Bilecen, B., 2014.International student mobility and transnational friendships. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Cameron, A.C. and Trivedi, P.K., 2013.Regression analysis of count data(Vol. 53). Cambridge university press. Choudaha, R. and Chang, L., 2012. Trends in international student mobility. World Education News Reviews, 25(2) Choudaha, R., Chang, L. and Kono, Y., 2014. 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