December 12th, 2013 International students coming to the U.S. are bound to experience different degrees of culture shock but they are just as likely to experience reverse culture shock, or re-entry, when they return to their home countries during semester breaks and holidays. Reverse culture shock is an emotional and psychological stage of re-adjustment, to […]
college
Classification of College Courses: Demystifying Course #s and Levels
October 24th, 2013 We regularly get asked by our international student applicants what is meant by “lower division” and “upper division.” In the U.S., undergraduate degrees such as the Associate and Bachelor comprise of a select number of courses with a specific number of credits. In order to qualify for the award of these degrees, […]
5 helpful tips for international students
September 5th, 2013 So, you’re an international student and freshly arrived on the campus of a U.S. college. Welcome! Now that you’re here, it’s understandable that you’re going to find college life daunting. You’re thousands of miles away from home and family and out of your comfort zone. Here are five tips to consider as […]
Dispatches from the 2013 CCID Conference in Atlanta, GA
February 28, 2013 Though I’d been to Atlanta before on business, this was my first time attending the CCID (Community Colleges for International Development) https://programs.ccid.cc/cci/ Conference. The Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead (known as the Beverly Hills of the South) served as the venue for the conference. After the hubbub of the French Quarter in New […]
20 International Education Hubs: A Global Movement
December 13, 2012 It used to be that if, for example, a student from Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia wanted to earn a degree from a university in the United States or the United Kingdom he/she had to attend the university in the county where it was based. But that’s no longer the case. More and […]
5 Things to Know about U.S. Community Colleges
September 13, 2012 Many individuals and groups overseas seem to have a distorted view of U.S. community colleges thinking that their academic programs are inferior to those offered by four-year colleges and universities. In fact, even our visa officers at U.S. embassies seem to have a skewed opinion of community colleges when it comes to […]
Living in Rennes
July 19, 2012 I arrived in Rennes, the capital of Brittany, as an exchange student in September 1975. I was a 19 year old sophomore, who, along with 29 American students from my college, would be living with French families and taking classes at the university. My host family, the Louis, were a clan of […]
Embracing International Students: Lowering Standards for the Almighty $$$
May 3, 2012 As we seek ways to attract international students to our college campuses, lowering our standards and accepting candidates solely to boost revenue and clout doesn’t seem to be a smart way of going about it. But, it is exactly what’s happening. As states cut back on subsidies, slashing budgets and tightening belts, […]
Packing My Bags & Heading South to NZ
April 12, 2012 While catching up on my backlog of newspaper and magazine articles, my eyes caught sight of this headline in this piece from April 2, 2012 in the NYT: ”New Zealand Casts Itself as Destination for International Students.”. It seems that our friends in the island country in the south Pacific have a […]
A stimulus plan of sorts…colleges paying employers to hire their graduates
Hope your Labor Day weekend was a good one. Thanks to my employer, who threw in a bonus day making it a total of 4 days of R&R, I’m back at my desk rested and ready to push through the remaining months of 2011. Here’s something interesting I came across while perusing the internet and […]