THE CHALLENGES AND COPING STRATEGIES OF ACADEMIC ADAPTATION OF ASEAN STUDENTS IN HIGHER VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN GUANGXI, CHINA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEPC.1163076Keywords:
Academic Adaptation, ASEAN Students, Challenges, Coping Strategies, Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Higher Vocational CollegesAbstract
In recent years, the number of ASEAN students studying at higher vocational colleges in Guangxi, China, has increased rapidly. Despite that, limited research has examined how these students adapt academically to the cross-cultural learning environment in Guangxi's higher vocational colleges. Therefore, it is essential to examine the cross-cultural academic adaptation of ASEAN students in higher vocational colleges in Guangxi. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate cross-cultural academic adaptation from two perspectives: academic adaptation levels and academic adaptation challenges. The study finds that ASEAN students generally demonstrate good academic adaptation; however, they face four core challenges: high academic pressure, language barriers, insufficient academic support, and inadequate professional competencies and professional quality among teachers and staff. This paper proposes four optimization strategies to enhance the cross-cultural academic adaptation of ASEAN students: encouraging ASEAN students to actively enhance their own academic learning, enabling teachers and staff to provide targeted academic support, strengthening institutional management and collaborative education practices in higher vocational colleges to address academic adaptation challenges, and promoting multi-level policy support to facilitate academic adaptation.
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