In recent years, going to a foreign country has become all the more significant for Higher Education (HE) students, as concepts such as internationalisation and intercultural competencies have gained a more prominent role in HE. For students to fully benefit from this experience, it is paramount to prepare them for their stay in a foreign country…

Learning a language involves knowledge of both linguistic competence and cultural competence. Optimal development of linguistic competence and cultural competence, however, requires a high level of acculturation attitude toward the target language culture. To this end, the present study explored the acculturation attitudes of 70 Iranian…

The number of international students in China is increasing rapidly, but their experiences in China remain largely unknown. This article reports an intensive longitudinal multiple case study that explores eight American students' intercultural experiences and the impacts of such experiences on individual identity during their study in a Chinese…

This paper examines how the addition of intercultural interventions carried out throughout European credit-bearing exchange programmes can enhance sojourners' development of intercultural competencies, and it explores how both formal and non-formal pedagogical interventions may be designed and implemented. Such interventions were conducted at a…

Language students in the UK undertake their "year abroad" with high hopes for a linguistic and social "immersion" experience. However, past research shows that language learning success, while real, can be uneven, and that many Erasmus exchange students form social relations largely with other international students. New…

This study involved 377 ERASMUS students from the University of Oviedo in an academic year. An ad-hoc questionnaire was applied in on-line format to determine students' perceptions and opinions and to understand the motivations that impel them to participate in these activities and their degree of satisfaction. The study analyzes the process of…

A pre-placement questionnaire was completed by a cohort of 30 students participating in the Erasmus exchange programmes from the University of Salamanca, placed in British universities, and by a group of 25 Nottingham Trent University students hosted by diverse Spanish universities. The questionnaire was then analysed with the aim of providing a…

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the views of exchange students from Asia about their academic and social experiences at an American university. The participants were eight exchange students from Japan (four men and four women). This study was descriptive-qualitative (Patton, 2002). The data sources were a demographic survey…

This article presents the results from a mainly statistical and comparative analysis regarding the communicative competences and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) of German exchange students. The data was extracted from two exhaustive, rigorous and methodical questionnaires related to communicative and ICT competences,…

An increasing number of European students are taking advantage of Erasmus mobility programs to study in a foreign country. This has brought to the forefront their special needs as L2 learners, which presents some unique challenges for EAP/ESP researchers and practitioners working in European universities. A case in point is represented by problems…

This article reports the findings of a small-scale investigation into the Internet user behaviour of generation Y (Gen Y) students, with particular reference to social networking sites. The study adds to the literature on cross-cultural Internet user behaviour with specific reference to Gen Y and social networking. It compares how a cohort of…

This paper reported the results of the Gottingen questionnaire, in which students from the University of California who had studied at the University of Gottingen, West Germany were asked to evaluate the exchange program they had attended during the 1965-66 academic year. (Editor)

If one of the main purposes of study abroad is to promote a greater understanding between members of the host and home nation via face-to-face relations and in-country living experiences, there is no place in the world where United States students studying abroad takes on more significance than it does in Cuba. Given a situation in which home and…

This article reports on a study done among students who participated in student exchange programs, both in the United States and other parts of the world, between January 2001 and May 2003. Issues such as why students decide to study abroad, why they select a certain institution, how their home institution compares to a partner institution abroad,…

This report presents results of a study concerning institutional support provided to overseas students studying at institutions of higher and further education in Scotland. The study examined three related sets of issues: (1) academic arrangements (information about programs, courses, induction, timetables, tutoring arrangements); (2)…