Cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese overseas students: A review of the past decade

Abstract

China has become increasingly important in the process of internationalization and globalization. Thus, many Chinese students are leaving China to study abroad. In the last decade, students from China were more likely to study abroad than students from India. Such groups are expected to grow quickly in the next decade and become the world’s largest group of migrants who leave their country to study abroad. As the number of students studying abroad increases, the need to develop the cross-cultural adaptability of such students likewise increases. Therefore, it is worth investigating how Chinese higher-education students prepare for their overseas studies via intercultural communication. Specifically, this study explores how students’ past intercultural learning influences their cross-cultural adjustment and how their prior cultural awareness can affect their knowledge. Our results showed that academic institutions cannot assure high-quality education and thus cannot achieve their mission and goals or serve their social, economic, and public purpose. Hence, such institutions should be actively involved in their students' psychological and cognitive health. This scenario is especially true for public universities.

Keywords: Chinese students; Cross-cultural adaptation; overseas universities