Research Blog #4- Final Draft Research Proposal

Aditya Srinivas

Professor Goeller

Research In Discipline:College!

26 February 2021

American Colleges for Foreigners

Topic

The topic I am going to be writing about is about why foreigners choose to come to the US for their education, whether it is worth the price they are going to have to pay versus what they get in return, and what it is like for them in other countries. 

I found evidence from many articles like ,Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany , by Zerrin Salikutluk that shows how students from many other countries go to Germany, but their expectations are very high compared to the average student. Their families expect them to work harder than everyone else to get the best scores possible and make most use of the opportunities that they paid a heavy price for. The article also talks about how these students' expectations stem from society and their families, how they get pushed into fields that they might not like just so they are able to get a job that makes them get good money in the future. I also talked about how international students are going to be affected by the global pandemic that is still currently happening right now. Because a lot of families' financial situations might not be the same because of the pandemic, what is to blame? the family for not having money to send their kid to an out-of-country college or the prices of college being extremely in general.

Research Question

Is it worth it for students to go abroad for education, especially to places like the US where tuition prices are ever-growing and what are the expectations they have for them to get in return? Is the impact of COVID-19 going to change these situations as families might not feel safe having their kids go across the world on their own and the financial situation of colleges and universities, and the students who are paying for them going to affect enrollment rates of colleges?

Theoretical Frame

In the article, Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany, by Zerrin Salikutluk it talks about the Achievement Paradox. This theory is that there are two expectations: one is an Idealistic expectation which talks about what immigrant students have as a future goal that they expect to complete. This might be anything that they want for example getting a perfect GPA out of college and getting their dream job. The other expectation is the realistic expectation which “by contrast, takes several restrictions into account.[Including] Students' socio-economic background and the norms and standards of their significant others—parents, peers, and teachers—influence their educational aims.” (Salikutluk). This takes into account all of the students expectations and adds factors like their parents expectations, the amount of money they have for extra help, and their hobbies into consideration that determines their actual achievements that are possible. This will help me compare case studies because I would be comparing the idealistic expectations of students who go to university from their own country versus those who come from another country and what they expect to achieve. Many factors could hurt foreigners as they might not know the language fluently of the country they go to, and won’t be able to fit in with the culture of other students there. I would also compare the outcomes of these people as they play a key role in discussing whether it was worth it for them to go through college in a foreign country. 

In another article, More international students were coming to US universities — then COVID hit, by Sara Reardon talks about how the influx of foreign students into the United States was an all time high but then Coronavirus hit, and with all the lockdown and restrictions rates of these students dropped significantly. In the article it talks about how the rates of foreign students were declining for a couple of years before 2019, but as soon as it hit 2020 rates went back up, but the problem was COVID-19 restricted most of them from coming to the US for college.

Case(s) or Examples

In the article, Exploring international student expectations of study in the US, had a survey of what international students expect after studying abroad in the US. These studies and surveys showed where most of these students come from and they compare it to the quality of education from the places they came from like India, China, Sub-Saharan Africa to the quality of education that they could receive in the US. The ICEF (group who conducted the survey) found out there were 4 major motives for students to study abroad which are “A belief that they will receive a better quality of higher education abroad – that is, relative to that of their home country.

A belief that study abroad will improve their career prospects (‘Career and work prospects are huge motivators among almost all groups of students from all over the world,’ says the report).

A desire to improve foreign language skills, particularly English.An interest in immigrating to another country, or at least to stay for a period of time after graduation”(ICEF). These all shows the positives that students expect and want when they come to the US to study abroad.Most of their expectations are high as they want a better future for themselves.

Bibliography

Kim, Eunyoung, and Díaz Jeannette. Immigrant Students and Higher Education. Wiley, 2013. 

Sali Kutluk, Zerrin. “Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the    Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany.” European Sociological Review, vol. 32, no. 5, 2016, pp. 581–592., doi:10.1093/esr/jcw004. 

Chapman E. Italy: a Survey of Italian Education and Guide to the Academic Placement of Italian Students in Educational Institutions in the U.S.A., 1962. Placement Recommendations by the Council on Evaluation of Foreign Student Credentials, Meeting March 9-10, 1961. Committee on Foreign Students, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; 1962.

Reardon, Sara. “More International Students Were Coming to US Universities - Then COVID Hit.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 9 Nov. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03168-6. 

“Exploring International Student Expectations of Study in the US.” ICEF Monitor - Market Intelligence for International Student Recruitment, 23 Mar. 2020, monitor.icef.com/2016/10/exploring-international-student-expectations-study-us/.