ISSUES FACING MIDDLE EASTERN STUDENTS

AT AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:

The numbers of foreign students enrolled in American colleges and universities reached alltime highs in the fall of 1993 (Dodge, 1993, p. A51). The record numbers of foreign students in American postsecondary education institutions poses challenges for administrators, American students, and the foreign students themselves. It is proposed that a research study be performed to investigate one set of these challengesthose faced by the foreign students in the United States. It is further proposed that the problem to be investigated be narrowed by focusing on college and university students from Middle Eastern countries who are studying in the United States.

Problems begin to develop for the Middle Eastern student enrolled in American colleges and universities while those students are still in their home countries. These problems, sociological and psychological in character, stem largely from conflicts associated with the mingling of traditional and contemporary values, attitudes, and behaviors in modernizing societies (Hojat, 1990, pp. 241253). Already buffeted by the conflicting demands of tradition and social change, these students are frequently unprepared for the sharply different cultural mores encountered in the United States (Skolnikoff, 1993, pp. 225252).

Middle Eastern students are by and large produ

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Category: Psychology - I