Intercultural Transitions in Higher Education

Universities are among the most dynamic contemporary arenas for intercultural contact, and one of the most interesting phenomena for social interaction studies, both conceptually and empirically. There are around four million people worldwide studying abroad, with numbers growing. These international student sojourns are, first and foremost, social experiences, with social interaction being both a success factor for and outcome of intercultural transition. But what’s it like being an ‘international’ student? How is the experience different from studying ‘at home’, and what might make it a success, or otherwise? This volume details how recent research has attempted to answer these questions and others related to the transition between different national learning environments, and shows how it is helping to inform debates, policy and practice on the international student experience.