When choosing a university, students usually look closely at things like its academic ranking and reputation, funding and scholarship opportunities. They often overlook other important aspects that can impact their educational journey. For example, finding yourself in a non-English-speaking country in the second-coldest capital in the world may add to the challenges that international students across the globe encounter: culture shock or difficulties adjusting to a new environment, isolation and homesickness, language difficulties. It’s crucial to support international students through this experience – and start doing it before their arrival on campus.
Home Away from Home is a new initiative by the International Students and Scholars Services unit of the Department of Internationalization to support orientation and integration of international students. It encompasses a range of activities and events to help our international students navigate their journey at our university and feel they are part of our community.
The guiding principles of Home Away from Home are the following:
- Inform and prepare
- Cultivate a sense of community
- Turn challenges into opportunities
- Keep informing without overwhelming
- Streamline support services and resources across the university.
The programme entails a number of meaningful activities and events to support student transition, adaptation, integration and inclusion in the university community. These include:
First welcome
Arriving in a new country is always a challenge for everyone. By having peers and staff greet our international students upon arrival, taking them to campus, helping them to find their dorm and go through the check-in procedure, we create a sense of belonging right away. Instead of worrying about figuring out transportation or dealing with unexpected challenges, students can relax and focus on settling into their new environment. A thoughtful welcome, starting at the airport, sets the tone for their entire experience. It helps foster positive emotions, builds trust and enhances their overall adjustment to their new academic and cultural environment.
- How to support international students’ smooth transition to a new country
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- Empowering international students for global career success
Exploring the larger community
Adapting to a new academic environment is just one part of international students’ journey. It is also important to engage with the larger community beyond campus. Short trips that we organise to local bazaars, city sights and events have a two-fold effect – they make our students feel connected to their new community at a deeper level by experiencing its vibrant energy and they help them build friendships while exploring the city together. These trips serve as an additional platform for meeting new friends and building community.
World on Wednesdays
Sometimes, what starts as a small initiative grows into something much bigger, driven by the enthusiasm and curiosity of international students eager to share their cultures and learn about others. Our World on Wednesdays is a perfect example: what began as a small panel discussion, as we initially imagined it, gained momentum to become a much larger event. Students showed great interest in celebrating their heritage and engaging in intercultural exchange.
The monthly event brings together the entire university community, as well as guests from embassies and other universities. It is loved by the university community and it is never the same, as each month it’s organised around different aspects: a specific country, the entire continent, a particular holiday celebrated across the world, etc. This also helps us to accommodate the differences in student groups that affect their participation in the event.
For example, we have more than 50 students from a couple of countries, making it easy for them to showcase their culture. Others are represented by less than 10 students and they can be organised around a common theme.
From this experience, we learned that all it takes is planting an idea, and it will flourish beautifully with the enthusiasm of students. They are eager to engage in campus activities and contribute to the community – they just need the right guidance and support to bring their ideas to life.
Collaboration with student clubs for joint events
Our experience shows that it is really important for international students to have a formal student club, as it helps them to navigate their journey and advocate for their needs. In addition, it is a great opportunity to structure interactions with other student clubs. We helped our students to establish the Association of International Students and supported their collaboration with other student clubs. It helped us to bridge the gap not only between international and local students, but also between undergraduate and graduate students. We noticed that it works well if the collaboration starts with informal gathering over food and games for the students to get to know each other, before planning joint events.
Collaboration with foreign embassies to provide support to our students
Embassies of international students’ countries of origin are another important source of support that the university can rely on when helping their international students to adjust to a new environment. They’re often open to collaboration and eager to provide support in arranging events and activities. The first step when approaching them could be an official letter from the university and then, when the first contact is established, the conversations continue on an informal level and benefit both parties.
Other activities we offer are:
- Pre-arrival orientation: online briefings and e-booklets to help plan their travel, arrival, living and studying in Kazakhstan
- Instagram page and Telegram channel for staying connected with our international students and providing them with necessary information
- First Friends: connecting newly admitted international students with their peers, both local and international students
- Cultural adjustment sessions: exploring social norms, reflecting on cultural differences
- You Matter: we send personalised birthday emails to each student and hold monthly birthday celebrations, including gift-giving
- Friday tea socials: a platform to socialise, meet new people and relax after the week of classes
- Saturday walk-in sessions: a platform to meet and share any concerns and opportunities. For the convenience of students they are conducted on Saturdays
- Collaboration with departments and units for joint events and support programmes.
Helping international students feel at home when they are making the difficult transition to a new academic and social environment is not an easy task, but it is achievable and absolutely rewarding.
Aray Saniyazova is head of international students and scholars services at Nazarbayev University.
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