HOMESICKNESS AND PERCEIVED UNIVERSITY SUPPORT: THE MACAU EXPERIENCE.

The University of Macau located in Macau Special Administration Region recently relocated its campus from Macau to the neighbouring island o f Hengqin and requires all first year students to live on campus in the newly established residential college system. This paper examines the effect of being homesick on perceived university support of first year undergraduate students who started their university life on the new university campus in August 2014. We surveyed local and non-local students (N=210) of both genders and who were compelled to live in the residential colleges on the new campus. Results showed that homesickness was negatively correlated with perceived university support. Gender and the experience of having lived away from home prior to entering the university showed weak correlation with social and academic adjustment, and with perceived university support. Implications for delivering effective adjustment programmes for academic, social and psychological services in higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]