Beyond mere presence-making diversity work

This article reports on a project that examined the academic and social experiences of international social work students by tracking and exploring the points they identified as being the most stressful over their time at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Using group consultation and individual semi-structured feed-back sessions, several common themes emerged that students reported as creating high stress; namely language comprehension, adapting to new teaching methods, finding culturally appropriate means of seeking help, and integrating into a new social setting. Students were also able to clearly identify the time periods when they felt most stressed; these being the first semester, exam periods and field placements. This study reports upon the rich descriptions obtained from these students including what they described as helpful in a new academic environment. Many of their responses paralleled the literature in regard to finding confidence and competency in foreign academic and social settings.