Academic Programs, Support and Services for International Graduate Students

Abstract

This study investigates whether international students enrolled in a graduate program at Southeastern University, knew, used, and were satisfied with the Academic Programs, Support, and Campus Services offered by this institution. Additionally, it was investigated whether these programs and services were an important instrument to support and integrate into their journey as international graduate students. 126 participants completed the survey during the Fall 2020 Semester. The results indicate that the students are familiarized with the academic programs, support, and campus services; however, the utilization of these services are concentrated in the University Libraries, the Miller Writing Center, the ePortfolio Project, and the Biggio Center (Academic Programs, Support) and University Medical Clinic, Recreation and Wellness Services, Cross-Cultural Programs (Campus Services).

In general, the international graduate students are satisfied with the Academic Programs, Support. The student satisfaction can be noted in the positive feedbacks and comments from these students mentioned in the survey. For these students, the services are “moderately to very helpful”. They recognized the importance of Academic Programs, Support which guides them to understand the U.S. Academic system. Additionally, the international graduate students consider that when they used the Campus Services, they felt more included and welcome at this University. However, despite the helpfulness of Academic Programs, Support, and Campus Services, the utilization of these services by international graduate students remains low. In conclusion, this study suggests some strategies to Southeastern University has to develop strategies to improve the utilization of these services by international graduate students to provide them a competitive advantage in recruitment and retention.