Abstract
The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has exerted tremendous influences on the well-being of international students and the development of higher education. The current study adopts an exploratory case study design to investigate the psychological and academic adjustments achieved by eight Chinese international students in the UK during the ongoing COIVD-19. Findings have demonstrated that the three main types of obstruction for such students emerging from the qualitative data including COVID-specific challenges (i.e., the threat of infect, reduced access to university facilities and resources); COVID-enhanced challenges (i.e., anxiety exacerbated by parents and social media use, anti-Asian racism and hate incidents); and language barriers and cultural differences as long-standing issues. Students’ previous lockdown experience, individual personalities, development of monocultural friendship patterns, and institutional provision and support are all factors that have contributed to their ability to overcome or at least mitigate the psychological and academic difficulties. The study offers insight into the impacts of COVID-19 on international students, providing higher education institutions implications that could inform future responses to global health crisis.
Author Information
Guangxiang Liu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Wentao Li, The University of British Columbia, Canada
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