Browsing by Author "Ammigan, Ravichandran"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item ‘Growing from an acorn to an oak tree’: a thematic analysis of international students’ cross-cultural adjustment in the United States(Studies in Higher Education, 2022-11-24) Ammigan, Ravichandran; Veerasamy, Yovana S.; Cruz, Natalie I.Embarking on an educational journey overseas can be a rewarding, yet stressful experience for many international students. The transition to their new university life, which is not always well understood and supported by host institutions, is often accompanied by unique difficulties and challenges resulting from unfamiliarity with a new academic environment, social and cultural differences, and language barriers. This study examines the cross-cultural transition experiences of international students enrolled at a mid-sized university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (U.S.). Using qualitative methods, we collected and analyzed data from reflection essays written by 378 international students between 2013 and 2020. This yielded experiential themes surrounding cross-cultural adaptation, adjustment, and acculturation to new local norms and values while studying in the U.S., including during an unwelcoming political climate and a global health pandemic. Drawing on Ward and Kennedy's (1999) model of sociocultural adjustment, we found that the experiences of international students were often characterized by distinctive psychological and sociocultural components. We contextualized the diverse student perspectives and relied on student voices to guide implications and offer recommendations to university staff and administrators with a goal to strengthen support services, enhance experiences, and ensure the well-being and success of this community. To our knowledge, this study represents the first time that a large data set of narratives, through reflection essays, has been analyzed to better understand the cross-cultural encounters of international students, both inside and outside of the classroom.Item Success Training for Academic Resiliency: An Advising Intervention Program for Undergraduate Students on Probation(Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, 2022-12-05) Liu, Charles; Bruner, Justin; Ammigan, RavichandranIn this paper, we examine how Success Training for Academic Resiliency (STAR) Lite, an advising intervention program, influenced undergraduate students to overcome academic probation into achieving good academic standing. We use descriptive quantitative methods to assess the impact of program participation for 194 undergraduate students on academic probation at a large public university in the Midwestern region of the United States. We found that 153 students who participated in the STAR Lite program returned to good academic standing after one semester of intervention, in comparison to 41 undergraduate students who did not participate and did not improve academically. The implication of the findings suggests that students participating in all or extra of the intervention program components overall improved their academic status from probation to good standing.Item Understanding the Experiences of Mauritian Students at Institutions of Higher Education Overseas(Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 2022-08-17) Ammigan, RavichandranEach year, a significant number of students from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius seek higher education opportunities abroad. Yet, limited research exists on these students’ expectations, preferences, and experiences in their academic and non-academic university settings overseas. This quantitative study investigates the experiences of Mauritian degree-seeking students at universities in Australia and the United Kingdom, which have been two of their most preferred destination countries for Mauritian international students over the years. It specifically examines associations between overall university satisfaction and various aspects of the student experience in the arrival, learning, living, and support services environment. Analyses from this research reveal that a number of satisfaction variables were important to students, namely the opportunity to make friends on campus, the availability of social activities and facilities, internet access and IT support, and chaplaincy or multi-faith provision. Implications for international educators, university administrators, and guidance counselors are discussed.Item Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to determine COVID-19 vaccination intentions and behavior among international and domestic college students in the United States(PLoS ONE, 2024-02-02) Liu, Cheng-Ching; Ling, Jiying; Zahry, Nagwan R.; Liu, Charles; Ammigan, Ravichandran; Kaur, Loveleen; Mehmood, KhalidVaccination is the most effective strategy for preventing infectious diseases such as COVID-19. College students are important targets for COVID-19 vaccines given this population’s lower intentions to be vaccinated; however, limited research has focused on international college students’ vaccination status. This study explored how psychosocial factors from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and behavioral intentions) related to students’ receipt of the full course of COVID-19 vaccines and their plans to receive a booster. Students were recruited via Amazon mTurk and the Office of the Registrar at a U.S. state university. We used binary logistic regression to examine associations between students’ psychosocial factors and full COVID-19 vaccination status. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to evaluate relationships between these factors and students’ intentions to receive a booster. The majority of students in our sample (81% of international students and 55% of domestic students) received the complete vaccination series. Attitudes were significantly associated with all students’ full vaccination status, while perceived behavioral control was significantly associated with domestic students’ status. Students’ intentions to receive COVID-19 vaccines were significantly correlated with their intentions to receive a booster, with international students scoring higher on booster intentions. Among the combined college student population, attitudes, intentions to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and subjective norms were significantly related to students’ intentions to receive a booster. Findings support the TPB’s potential utility in evidence-based interventions to enhance college students’ COVID-19 vaccination rates. Implications for stakeholders and future research directions are discussed.