Empowering International Students: A Call to Prioritize Essential Support Services

Everyone is talking about bad agents, poor recruitment practices, low employment outcomes ?and so on, leading to many a disillusioned student in a foreign land and an? incensed institute. But is every agent a bad actor?? Is every student a misfit ? The obvious and acceptable answer to these ?questions is NO.

One would ?agree that most international students are genuine and keen to make a success of their lives after spending a fortune of their family's hard earned money. Most ?institutions are doing a wonderful job to support their International students , who besides providing an excellent academic ecosystem are also highly ?focused on these current hot ?topics and often matters of concern for students.

Career guidance

?Generally misunderstood by some ?institutions as a means to get a job. A job can be of different types (part time, full time) and levels(entry level to higher management), and may/may not lead to a successful career. What do some institutions say when accosted by this question? 'Oh we conduct job fairs, help with CVs, mock interviews, do job postings'. Is that enough to build a career?

Today's students need career guidance in addition to the above.

Career guidance empowers individuals with support and resources, enabling them to acquire knowledge, skills, and experience to navigate career options and make impactful decisions, influencing their social, financial, and emotional well-being.

Some program coordinators do a wonderful job of aggressively inducting industry professionals as part time professors, update the skills taught as the industry evolves, run career panel discussions, offer fantastic internships/coops, and get students to attend/network at conferences related to their industry. They have vision and a strategy for empowering their international students. If all institutional leaders make it a mandate to focus strongly on guidance activity, and strictly record and improve career outcomes of their international graduates, it would go a long way to justify the huge tuition these International students have to pay!

Immigration guidance by licensed professionals

Post graduation work permit, and possible available routes to Permanent residency are strong reasons for an international student choosing a study destination.

Most institutions do provide this service but some go out of their way to provide the complete gamut of immigration guidance services by hiring licensed professionals and providing these services almost/completely free of cost to their students.

Mental health services

Post the pandemic, this is now an area of greater focus. These are listed services at many institutions but may not yet be robust enough to reach out to all International students, and make them comfortable considering their different cultural backgrounds.

It is necessary to provide Cultural Adjustment Support through clubs, student ambassador programs, Workshops, seminars, and resources to help students adapt to a new culture and assimilate the new environment.

Further, for students with depression due to high academic pressure , housing issues, peer bullying, etc there really needs to be a very strong support system between faculty and health care.

Housing assistance

In recent times, this has been a huge setback because many students look for a certain range of lower cost housing and post the pandemic, that range may have become unavailable.

Lobbying with the federal governments on policy and with the local councils and governments to support low cost housing would be necessary as a long term strategy and we see some progressive institutions working at it.

Conclusion

?In general, availability and scope of these and many other student related services vary from one institution to another. But the above listed services need to be upgraded most urgently if we really want a healthy output of International students who contribute so generously to the local economies they are temporarily settled in. Their careers, mental health and housing needs have to be central to the education provider they have chosen so lovingly with the hope of a great future.

Feedback from long term stakeholders is invaluable. Many institutions have begun emphasizing these elements and expressing commitment to enhancing career growth. It is work in progress to elevate BRAND International Education! The numbers and diversity will follow ...

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