Academic Adjustment Issues in a Malaysian Research University: The Case of Cambodian, Laotian, Burmese, and Vietnamese Postgraduate Students’ Experiences

Abstract

The Malaysian government aims to help the bottom billion countries, which are its neighbouring countries in the South East Asian region, for their human capital development through providing university postgraduate scholarship projects. Those countries include Cambodia, Laos PDR, Burma or Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV), which are favourite countries for its technical assistance. Due to the countries' various educational systems, postgraduate students have experienced some academic difficulties during their studies and research in Malaysian universities. A qualitative research method is employed to investigate students' living strategies, perception of academic success, and academic adjustment problems in a Malaysian university. Research samples were conducted conveniently selected from a total of 17 students made up of 6 Cambodian, 4 Laotian, 2 Myanmar, and 5 Vietnamese postgraduate students (47, 05% females and 52, 94% males) who have studied in the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) so called the Research University in the academic year 2012/2013, where they have attended the schools of educational studies, social science, and materials and mineral resource engineering. The result showed that the most difficult problem in term of academic adjustment which is English language difficulty in their new learning environment. In order to remedy such matters, they must strive to study hard, to improve English proficiency, and to make good relations with their academic staff, thesis supervisors, and other postgraduate students. In other words, social adjustment is considered as one of the important strategies that enable them to cope with the context of Malaysian culture. Based on the findings, the researchers provide recommendations to facilitate CLMV students to make better adjustments in a Malaysian research university and to achieve their academic endeavour.

Sustainable supervisory relationships between postgraduate international students and supervisors: a qualitative exploration at a Malaysian research university

“…For example, supervisors may create research groups where students meet face-to-face or “chat” online about research issues (Hutchings, 2017). Supervisors also need to provide timely constructive feedback on students’ work and be friendly, open, approachable, supportive and accessible to them (Sam et al , 2013; Sidhu et al , 2014). Kidman et al (2017) suggest that supervisors from higher-income countries need to develop greater cultural awareness, competences and sensitivity in supervising international students from global South countries.…”

Preparing for PhD: exploring doctoral students’ preparation strategy

“…Recent years have seen a drive for excellence and efficiency, the strengthening of expertise and the emergence of research regarding postgraduate training in Malaysia. Prior literature has studied the following: the supervisor-supervisee experience (Krauss and Ismail, 2010;Sidhu et al, 2013;Sidhu et al, 2014); postgraduate students' attitudes on technology (Kian- Sam and Cheng Lee, 2008;Abdul Rahman et al, 2011;Abedalaziz et al, 2013); postgraduate students' learning experiences (Kaur and Sidhu, 2009;Memon et al, 2014); learning strategies (Majid et al, 2010;Shaari et al, 2011); students' adjustment and quality of life while studying in a foreign environment (Mohd Yusoff and Chelliah, 2010;al Horany and Hassan, 2011;Vakili et al, 2012;Desa et al, 2012;Mustaffa and Ilias, 2013;Sam et al, 2013;Abdullah and Sulaiman, 2014); research knowledge and skills (Huwari and Abd Aziz, 2011;Mohd Meerah et al, 2012;Singh, 2013;Salehuddin, 2016;Jeyaraj, 2018); the doctoral journey (Amran and Ibrahim, 2012); factors attracting international students and recruitment strategies (Awang et al, 2012;Singh et al, 2014;Md Isa et al, 2016); and managing time and stress (Md Yusof and Azman, 2013).…”

Academic Adjustment of Freshmen in Cambodian Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Literature Review

“…For these changes, novice students' expectations do not always fit the purposes and characteristics of the education process in institutions that could not satisfy first-year students' motivations and socio-psychologies [1]. Moving abroad for academic purposes, Wu et al [2] found that international students are primarily involved with academic challenges, social isolation, and cultural adjustment [3]. The assumption is also part of adjustment constraints; drop-out rates worldwide are typically high for a faculty (49.6%) for such kinds of learners of universities [4].…”