Coping with Transition: Strategies Employed by Chinese International Students in South Korea

Overview: This presentation reports challenges experienced by Chinese international students during their cross-cultural adjustments to South Korean universities and illustrates coping strategies they used to manage their cultural adjustment. This has implications for university-based mental health practitioners, educators, and social workers who advocate for international students.Proposal text: Learning Objectives
Attendees will be able to describe Chinese international students’ adjustment challenges and coping strategies in Korea; and discuss roles of social workers and educators in developing effective university support services/programs to aid the students’ transition.

Introduction
For nearly two decades, international student enrollment in Korean universities has steadily increased. This change resulted from the rising global popularity of Korean culture, coupled with the government-led efforts to attract excelling foreign students aiming to position the country as the education hub of Northeast Asia through the rigorous and proactive development of foreign human resources. In response to this increase, the government implemented International Education Quality Assurance System to help domestic universities fortify their management skills of international students.[1,3,6] However, while focusing heavily on the standardization procedures, the new system did not factor in various academic, emotional, or social needs of international students during their transition. This oversight unintentionally burdened individual students and universities with solving students’ adjustment issues. Chinese students alone constitute nearly half of the international student population in Korea.[2] Despite their overwhelming representation, these students’ cross-cultural experiences are vastly under-researched. This study explores this research gap by addressing challenges and coping strategies unique to Chinese students to facilitate successful transition.

Methodology
Purposive and convenience sampling were used. Twelve Chinese students currently enrolled at universities in Seoul-Gyeonggi areas participated in the study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews for thematic analysis. Themes associated with challenges were: academic demands, internalized academic pressure, superficial friendships with host nationals, social isolation, racial/ethnic prejudices and stereotyping, and a lack of support from academic advisors. Coping strategies included: relying on informal support groups, investing in academic goals, accepting things as they are, searching for greater meaning, and working with hands-on academic advisors.

Results
Consistent with previous findings, academic demands presented a major challenge for participants.[4] Stress levels increased significantly when working on writing assignments because of extensive vocabulary and honorific systems. Additionally, participants experienced high levels of internalized academic pressure because they excelled academically in China and strove to do equally well in Korea. Participants also desired deep friendships with Korean nationals, but limited opportunities to socialize outside of the classroom amounted to superficial friendships and reliance on co-nationals in times of struggle.[4,5] Amid fear aroused by the COVID-19 pandemic, participants reported experiencing increased racial/ethnic prejudices and stereotyping. In dealing with these situations, they exclusively used passive coping, which can adversely affect mental health.[4] Due to face-to-face restrictions, communication with academic advisors was limited, causing some participants to experience additional challenges in navigating the school system. However, advisors who were actively involved in the participants’ lives helped them make successful transitions.[1,5]

Implications
Korean universities should develop effective support services/programs to aid international students’ cultural adjustment. This includes hiring mental health professionals who understand clients’ cultural backgrounds. Integrating international students into the fabric of the university is pressing and can be partially achieved with social work practitioners by establishing specific anti-discrimination policies on campus. Lastly, educators need to enhance their cultural sensitivity through relevant training.