The Intercultural Adaptation of the Pakistani Students at Chinese Universities

In the past decade, the population of international students enrolling in Chinese colleges and universities has been increasing rapidly, with the students in Asia taking the most portions. Chinese higher education institutions are facing great challenges in their course of internationalization. Therefore the studies on the intercultural adaptation of international students in Chinese higher education institutions have received extensive attention. The present research was conducted to investigate the intercultural adaptation of the Pakistani students at the Chinese universities in forms of a questionnaire and interviews. Colleen Ward's cultural adjustment process model is used as the analytical lens to explore the life and study experiences of the Pakistani students from their perspectives and to understand the challenges they experienced during their intercultural communication. The students' personal reports will collectively provide some valuable information for Chinese universities to understand cultural differences that international students is bringing to Chinese campuses and to help them succeed in a totally different academic setting.