Influence of Intercultural Competence on Academic Adaptation of African Students.

A large number of international students face serious psychological and cultural adjustment issues while studying abroad. These may include challenges of living in a foreign culture, emotional issues, as well as academic problems associated with higher studies. The results of a questionnaire survey conducted with 45 African international students in five disciplines in an Indian University, pursuing their bachelor, master and doctoral programmes, have been reported. Thepaperexamined the predicting effects of the dimensions of intercultural competence-'knowledge', 'attitude', 'skills' and 'awareness' on academic adaptation of African international students in India. The findings showed that attitude was particularly important and awareness was additionally important for academic adaptation of African international students. Implications for institutions and faculties of the host country, international students and future research were also considered in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]