How We Can Help Adult International Learners to Fit In

Institutional exclusion in between being a student and a seasoned professional

Let me explain what I mean by institutional exclusion. The main point I would argue is that most courses and events on campus are geared towards credits and degrees. Sometimes those credits and degrees don’t fit the actual needs of adult international learners who might not be enrolled in a degree program. And if you are not enrolled officially in a program, then auditing is mostly prohibited or quite costly. And then there is the restriction to access professional development opportunities. You need to have an actual job as staff or faculty to access many professional development opportunities on campus. Adult international learners fall through the cracks.

Find professional development opportunities

We, as International Educators, need to be the bridge for them. I would suggest that our role is to find professional development opportunities on campus as well as off-campus and help them access it. I find conferences, connect them to local associations, and utilize groups like meet-ups to connect them to a professional peer group. But I would also say that we need to comb through specific department events for open to the public keynotes, brown bag seminars, open houses, or receptions. This is also a task that I give each of the learners, I advise. They need to get to know the landscape of professional activities in the area.

Be their agent

I would also argue that we need to be almost like an agent. My goal is to facilitate academic conversations, and I use my organizational credentials to make introductions to faculty. I find it is easier if I write on behalf and take the time to explain and give appropriate information. I try to be proactive: If there ever is a personal meeting or a phone call, I alert the other person to maybe a lower proficiency in English. I talk about the usual length of an appointment, how to end an appointment, what rules are for simple things like payment for a coffee or lunch meeting, and I also point out dress codes. It took me a while to understand that the key to a fruitful conversation is to address as many hurdles or awkward moments as I possibly can and prepare the learners for it.

Facilitating building a new inner circle

And then, there is the question of who is the Inner Circle. I know many people who are still in contact with their college roommate, and I have a friend who meets his five best college friends each month, 25 years after graduation. They stayed a close-knit group because they had a common outlook. Even when life took them in different directions, they were still able to maintain that, and I believe this is hard to achieve for international learners.

We need to facilitate the connection between them. We should set up networking sessions, and we should not assume that international students magically find each other and connect. My experience is that even though they often meet and they bump into each other, they rarely lead to meaningful connections. I believe that International educators need to be good networkers.