International Students Forum!

Globalizations, Internationalization, Cosmopolitanism are not everyday terms though they are all closely related to one another. The Business Dictionary states that Globalization implies opening beyond local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and inter-dependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. The same goes for Internationalization, Cosmopolitanism in terms of definition and meaning. But how do you relate this definition to higher learning

As the world evolves and as nations continue to open up their borders for greater cooperation with one another in the areas of economy and education, movements of people and services are bound to happen.

The purpose of education as we all know is to open minds, doors and rid one of ignorance. But does the purpose of education end there? Recently Malaysia has witnessed such movements into its fold and thus joined the rest of the world in welcoming international students for study purposes.

Due to this phenomenon, UCSI University (one of the leading institutions that have internationalized its campus in Malaysia) took the lead, through Research and Development and organized an International Education Conference (INEC) that was aimed at understanding the international students better. Reasons that have triggered this initiative were: the reasons why international students chose to study here, the benefits of studying in a different country and environment and the challenges that they face.

Dr. Irene Tan, Director Centre for Learning Excellence who was the main proponent of the conference believes that the purpose of the conference was to highlight issues that relate to international students and higher education in Malaysia with UCSI University serving as a leader in that regard.

“The purpose of organizing this conference is to highlight the importance of discussing and debating issues related to international education, especially with Malaysia positioning itself as a hub for international students. It is important for UCSI as a university with international students to provide the leadership in building the platform for research in this area.” She said.

As for globalization and international education, Dr. Irene believes that both globalization and international higher education stand to influence one another and also opens communication channels for greater interaction between cultures and nations. According to her, “Globalization opens countries and narrows borders among nations.  Consequently, higher education as a service sector is influenced by the flexibility of delivering academic programs because of the ease of communication and sharing of information.”

At the conference the panel of international students which consisted of foreign students from Indonesia, Africa and the Middle-East discussed issues related to them living in a foreign country. They mentioned issues such as food, the people, the environment, and culture of the host community. To them the new experience of being in a foreign land brings with it daily challenges. Issues like difficulty in finding accommodation, not being able to mix with locals and transportation issues were discussed openly.

These challenges can be transient as the international students adjust themselves and adapt to the host community’s surrounding and for the locals to understand and accept their diversity.