‘101 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Coming to UWE’ R FINAL REPORT YUANQING DU AND PARISHMA GUTTOO July 2016 CONTENTS Contents ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Terminology and basic statistics ................................................................................................................... 2 2. Research methods .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Aims and Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Data collection .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2.1 Online survey ......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2.2 offline survey cards ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.2.3 Focus Group Discussions ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.4 Face to Face/Semi-structured Interviews .............................................................................................. 5 2.2.5 Social media ........................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Data protection ............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.4 Sample demographics................................................................................................................................... 6 3. Research findings and discussions ...................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 issues identified ............................................................................................................................................ 9 3.1.1 Academia ............................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1.2 Accommodation .................................................................................................................................. 11 3.1.3 Weather ............................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.4 Public transportation ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.5 Culture differences .............................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.6 Food ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.7 Local information ................................................................................................................................. 14 3.1.8 Work .................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.9 Expenditure ......................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.10 English language ................................................................................................................................ 15 3.1.11 Others ................................................................................................................................................ 16 3.3 General suggestions .................................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.1 The use of student network and societies ........................................................................................... 16 3.3.2 Alumni ambassador oversea................................................................................................................ 16 3.3.3 .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 3.2 Bower Ashton focus group ......................................................................................................................... 17 3.2.1 Public transportation at Bower Ashton ............................................................................................... 17 3.2.2 Taylor university’s transfer students ................................................................................................... 17 3.2.3 No praying room at Bower Ashton ...................................................................................................... 17 3.2.4 Lack of social events at Bower Ashton ................................................................................................ 17 3.2.5 Well-being service ............................................................................................................................... 17 3.3 Good things about UWe ............................................................................................................................. 18 4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 1. INTRODUCTION In the light of improving the experiences of international students at University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), which consists of 13.80% (3,764/27,280) of the entire student population, the need for feedback by the concerned students was identified and the ‘101 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Coming to UWE’ project was initiated by Student’s Union Officers and the Community Department. This research sought to identify different perspectives on the experiences of international students in the specific context of UWE, in order to build a picture on the barriers facing international student and the areas where more support is needed. The campaign aimed to firstly increase engagement between the Students’ Union at UWE and our international and EU student body (showcasing our representative and supportive functions), and secondly to find out and explore the issues facing our international and EU students (understanding where we can support and positive experience we can build upon). The Students’ Union would then create recommendations internally and to the University to improve the international student experience. ‘101 Things’ was chosen as a catchy title to engage students, but the main aim was not to necessarily capture 101 different pieces of data. The ‘101 project’ lasted for the entire academic year and massive amount of qualitative data have been collected through various means. The findings generally supported what was expected, but at same time they serve to provide empirical evidences of what international students are experiencing when studying at UWE. Specifically, accommodation and academic difficulties are the 2 most mentioned issues among UWE international students. However, the variety of accommodation issues is far more than just simply putting it as ‘the lack of accommodation options’. International students, especially oversea students have got a whole new range of problems when renting privately that home students do not have. 1.1 TERMINOLOGY AND BASIC STATISTICS The term international students are used loosely to include both EU students and oversea students. According to UWE’s official website, there are 27,280 students registered within the 2014/2015 programme, of which 946 students are from EU (3.50%), 2,818 oversea students (10.32%) and 23,516 home students (86.20%). UWE students by origin Home student (23,516) EU students (946) Oversea students (2,818) 2. RESEARCH METHODS 2.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The primary objective of the project is to understand what international students experience and how well UWE is meeting those expectations. 2.2 DATA COLLECTION Data were collected from international students, based on different campuses of UWE - Bower Ashton, Glenside and Frenchay. A variety of methods have been used for data collection: • Online questionnaire • Focus group discussions with targeted student groups • Face to face semi-structured interviews • Online surveys sent to different societies and networks in UWE • Direct emails • Social media platforms such as Facebook (special attention was given to which forms of social media were popular amongst international students) • Handing out of ‘101 Things I wish I’d known before coming to UWE’ questionnaires/ cards. Although the platform of data collection varies, they all involve the use of 101 Things card which has 4 questions listed at the back: • Before I came to the UK/UWE, I wish I’d known… • No-one told me that… • It would have been already