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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 2.2
Publication Date: February 25, 2024
DOI:10.14738/assrj.112.2.16416.
Jamaludin, N. L., Farradina, S., Wee, N. M. M. F., Sadik, M. Z., Jamil, N. A., Mahpar, N. S., & Sani, N. Z. A. A. (2024). Home Away
from Home: Excitement or Agitation? Revisiting International Students Adaptability to Life in Malaysia. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 11(2.2). 27-40
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Home Away from Home: Excitement or Agitation? Revisiting
International Students Adaptability to Life in Malaysia
Nor Lelawati Jamaludin
*Corresponding author: norlelawati0019@uitm.edu.my
Department of International Business and Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Alam, Malaysia
Syarifah Farradina
syarifah.farradinna@psy.uir.ac.id
Fakultas Psikologi, Universitas Islam Riau, Indonesia
Nur Melissa binti Mohammad Faisal Wee
nurmelissa@uitm.edu.my
Department of International Business and Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Bandaraya Melaka, Malaysia
Mohd Zaki Bin Sadik
mohdzaki552@uitm.edu.my
Department of International Business and Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Bandaraya Melaka, Malaysia
Norina Ahmad Jamil
norina0048@uitm.edu.my
Department of Technology and Supply Chain Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Alam, Malaysia
Nurul Salizawatee Mahpar
salizawatee@uitm.edu.my
Department of International Business and Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Alam, Malaysia
Nur Zania Azurin Abdullah Sani
nurzan7884@uitm.edu.my
Department of International Business and Management Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Alam, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The act of relocating from one's nation of origin is frequently perceived as a
formidable experience in the lives of sojourners. Several studies and models
examining adjustment speculate that either euphoria or agitation can characterize
the initial period of a vacation. This study examines the initial experiences of 9
International Postgraduate students through a case study approach, utilising
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 11, Issue 2.2, February-2024
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
interviews to determine whether their early phase of adjustment was characterised
by feelings of euphoric or agitated in nature. The results of the study indicated that
participants reported an array of experiences, some of which were positive and
others negative. Individual preferences and previous encounters influenced these
experiences. Another significant discovery of this research pertained to the pre- departure phase of the students' sojourn, indicating that the psychological aspects
of the experience commence well in advance of their initial arrival in Malaysia. This
study has the potential to provide a foundation for future research and inform the
Department of International Affairs in developing programme components that
facilitate the adaption of international students.
Keywords: psychological adjustment, euphoria, agitation, adaptation, adjustment
process.
INTRODUCTION
International education is a rising phenomenon worldwide (Jamaludin, Sam, Sandal, & Adam,
2016b; Fereidouni, 2023). The internationalization of higher education is one response to the
driving force of globalization (Van der Wende, 2007; Rumbley et al., 2022). Studies have shown
that international education generates financial benefits for the host countries (Benos & Zotou,
2014; Zhou & Zhang, 2014; Yang, 2022). Because higher education is viewed as critical to
international competitiveness and individual opportunity, its quality and status have become
vital indicators (Hazelkorn, 2009; Shayery et al.,2022). However, with increased globalisation
as well as stiff competition from other foreign universities, this market has become volatile
(Ryan & Caroll, 2005; Yang, 2022).
In the current QS world university rankings 2023, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), has been
ranked in the #555 categories. This can be improved with among all, the increase in the number
of international students (Ngoc, & Tien, 2023). According to the article on the QS rankings
website, internationalization is one of the six performance indicators for university ranking in
the world ("QS World University Rankings: Methodology," 2016). They mentioned that,
internationalization indicators aim to assess how successful a university has been in attracting
students and academics from other nations.
This is crucial because global rankings have become an exemplar of the marketization of higher
education and the global battle for world-class excellence (Hazelkorn, 2009; Ngoc, & Tien,
2023). She mentioned that rankings also provide a framework through which national/supra- national and institutional ambition and competitiveness can be measured and help to reaffirm
a traditional understanding of knowledge production and research and its international
division of labour.
In order to attract more international students which can help improve UiTM world universities
ranking, Ward, (2001); Jamaludin et al., (2018) and Lashari et al., (2023) suggested that it is
important to research the welfare of international students which has gradually gained more
attention in recent years.
Moving to a new country is often seen as a disturbing event in a sojourner’s life which naturally
generates some kind of cultural shock (Berry, 1994; Hamburg & Adams, 1967). Several early
models of adjustment proposed by Adler, (1975); Gullahom and Gullahom, (1963); Oberg,
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Jamaludin, N. L., Farradina, S., Wee, N. M. M. F., Sadik, M. Z., Jamil, N. A., Mahpar, N. S., & Sani, N. Z. A. A. (2024). Home Away from Home:
Excitement or Agitation? Revisiting International Students Adaptability to Life in Malaysia. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(2.2).
27-40
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.112.2.16416
(1960); Hernández López, (2021) and others, postulate that the individual is in a state of
happiness, excitement or fascination with the beginning phase. However, this has been
criticised by Searle and Ward (1990); Hirai et al., (2015) and Hernández López, (2021) point to
the lack of empirical evidence to support this viewpoint. The length of adjustment and when
each phase starts and finishes also play a role (Unjore, 2014; Hirai et al., 2015). Furnham,
(1995) and Ward, (2001) further argued by describing the initial state of mind as necessarily
being more stressful and anxious in order to lead to gradual adjustments till recovery is
achieved in later stages.
Based on the literature, this study tries to gather empirical evidence through a qualitative
approach in order to understand whether postgraduate sojourners of the two largest groups
(China and Indonesia) studying at UiTM experienced mostly positive feelings or negative
feelings at the beginning phase of their sojourn in Malaysia.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Despite their cultural uniqueness, international students have been regularly studied as a
whole or research specifically focused on the largest subsets of the international student
population, like East Asian students (Brunsting et al., 2018). Such was the rationale for focusing
on this particular group of students in a setting similar to theirs (Indonesia) and not similar to
theirs (China). Additionally, Hausmann-Stabile et al., (2011) and Jonbekova et al., (2023)
concluded that “lost time and money” could have been saved, would the graduates had been
better equipped with knowledge prior to departure. This conclusion calls for a research focus
that goes beyond an under-researched group of students and setting, but one that also
considers the participants’ departure stage.
However, there is little agreement amongst researchers over how and what constitutes the
adjustment process (Ward & Kennedy, 1999; Deuchar, 2022). In her study, Unjore, (2014) look
at the various models of adjustment and shows that they all describe the cultural shock phase
happening at the second stage of sojourn. However, she suggested that there is little consensus
on what really happens at the first stage of adjustment.
Despite the vast criticisms, international student mobility has been commonly addressed in the
literature by using traditional models coined more than five decades ago by Lysgaard (1955),
Oberg (1960), and Adler, (1975). Lysgaard, (1955), a pioneer in the development of
international academic mobility research, has been prominently recognized due to his
proposition of adjustment as a process over time.
Based on his evidence, there was a relationship between duration and adjustment, understood
as a ‘U-shaped curve’, where a series of stages were to happen before reaching “good
adjustment”. A few years later, Oberg, (1960) supporting Lysgaard’s view, claimed the existence
of an initial stage of fascination; defined as a “honeymoon”, marked by feelings of easiness and
excitement for being abroad. The former on-arrival phase lasting from a few days up to a longer
period, was supplanted by a “crisis” period, where the “real conditions of life” were experienced
and the sojourner sought “refuge” by establishing contact with fellow nationals (Oberg, 1960).
By the third, the recovery stage, the traveler had grasped some cultural and linguistic
understanding of the host culture enabling them to better find their way around.