The number of international students in Japan has continued to increase at a rapid pace and has featured very prominently in the so-called internationalization of higher education. International students had been expected to become a catalyst for internationalization and university reform. Recently, however, concern has been raised about the reported decline in the “quality” of international students. This article uses a case study approach to examine the student-quality issue and conducts a review of the closely related problematic educational environment for international students at Japanese universities. Whereas educational-quality problems tend to affect all students, they invariably affect international students to a greater extent because of language obstacles and a lack of awareness regarding cultural and educational differences. The article concludes that for Japanese universities to effectively sustain the current number of international students, particular attention must be given to the improvement of classroom instruction and other educational support.
International students often require extracurricular assistance upon arrival in the host country. Many universities operate programs pairing international and domestic students for academic and adjustment assistance. The tutor system operating at Japanese national universities has similar objectives. Although the literature has highlighted several problems with the system, it is viewed as a viable form of educational assistance. This study examined the data from 38 interviews with tutors, international student tutees, and administrators, qualitatively analysing the perspectives of these stakeholders to uncover the main factors determining program effectiveness. Data analysis revealed several main themes relating to tutoring effectiveness, and differences were found in how tutors and tutees perceived their participation in the system. Although tutees tended to focus on the interpersonal relationship, tutors were more concerned about their tutoring ability. Implications of the findings are discussed for enhancing peer-pairing programs to better accommodate the needs of students.
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