Challenges of postgraduate international students in achieving academic success

Abstract

Existing literature on international students predominately offers rich insights into international students’ adjustment experiences. Although previous researchers have acknowledged that academic and social adjustment experiences do impact academic success of students, limited research has been conducted on understanding the connections between adjustment-related challenges and academic success, particularly of postgraduate international students from Malaysia. This paper fills that gap in the literature, investigating key challenges impeding academic success of postgraduate international students, and thereby seeks to contribute to scholarship on international student development. It adopts a qualitative approach and is based on 55 semi-structured interviews, analysed thematically. The paper notably identifies two main challenges that hinder academic success of postgraduate international students. Firstly, academic challenges faced by postgraduate international students include issues with languages, lack of quality supervision and problems with research training. Secondly, social challenges such as lack of financial aid and barriers of friendships hinder students’ academic success.