Despite the development of employability skills being firmly entrenched in higher education's strategic agenda worldwide; recent graduates' standards in certain skills are not meeting industry expectations. This paper presents and tests a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills. It highlights those factors which impact on…

This study investigates how university instructors from various disciplines at a large, comprehensive university in the United States evaluate different varieties of English from countries considered "outer circle" (OC) countries, formerly colonized countries where English has been transplanted and is now used unofficially and officially…

The study-abroad internship option for students is one example of a transformational learning opportunity (TLO) that is becoming increasingly popular in programs offered by colleges and universities in the United States (Alfaro, 2008; Cushner & Mahon, 2002). These TLOs often have the potential to broaden, enrich, or augment student learning and…

The study proposes an alternative approach to studying interpersonal trust. The researcher uses the Rasch analysis to design a quantitative instrument that can be used to measure trust when exploring the effects that various aspects of educational environment have on students' experiences. Prior empirical studies examined trust from a…

Literature on factors contributing to the retention of international students remained limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors related to retention of international undergraduate degree seeking students through conducting pairwise correlational analysis to test the relationship between retention and age, gender, country of…

Increasing degree-seeking international students from affluent Asian countries, who use English as an additional language (EAL), have contributed to cultural and linguistic diversity in Australian universities. However, such diversity posed challenges in pedagogy and assessment. Drawn from a larger interview study, exploring what resources helped…

The aim of this study was to examine the moderators of (a) general or cross-cultural advisory working alliances and (b) perceived English proficiency on the association between acculturative stress and psychological distress. A total of 143 East Asian international students completed an online survey. Results from a hierarchical regression…

This is the first study to empirically identify distinct acculturative adjustment patterns of new international students over their first 3 semesters in the United States. The sample consisted of 507 Chinese international students studying in the United States. Using psychological distress as an indicator of acculturative adjustment, measured over…

This paper contrasts the notion of "independent learning" as perceived by two informant groups at a UK institution of higher education: (1) teachers, educators and providers of education and (2) their students or "consumers" of education. Both informant groups are staff and students studying in a culture different to that of…

This chapter explores international students' perspectives of boundaries in the American graduate-level classroom, specifically considering the culturally based essence of boundaries. The authors focus on graduate-level Japanese international students. This population is particularly helpful in their consideration of boundaries because research…

Cosmopolitan, international capital has become an integral ingredient in the set of competencies considered to provide a competitive edge and to be required for affective citizenship in the 21st century. Recently, internationalization of education has become a more common phenomenon in local schools around the world, serving as a tool to provide…

The English Placement Test (EPT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is designed to provide an accurate placement (or exemption) of international students into the ESL writing and pronunciation classes. Over the last five years, UIUC has experienced an increase in the number of international students taking the EPT. Because of…

The framework of genre systems (Bazerman, 1994; Bhatia, 2004; Swales, 2004) offers an opportunity to illuminate the ways in which students enculturate into their disciplinary cultures (Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995). To explore the ways in which genre chains are constructed through engagement in specific tasks, this study investigates two…

An experiment using real hardware and under real test conditions can be remotely conducted by engineering students and other interested individuals in the world via the Internet and with the capability of live video streaming from the test site. The presentation of this innovative experiment refers to the determination of the current voltage…

Writing and the power of the written word is a very important aspect of our literate society and writing is integrated into all aspects of our daily life. Good writing skills are paramount in social and educational institutions where textual production and related writing activities represent the main framework for knowledge production and…