THOUSANDS of international students will arrive in the UK over the next few weeks to begin life at university, facing the daunting challenge of settling into a new country while getting up to speed with their studies.
A new book from two University of Dundee academics aims to make that transition into student life in the UK easier by offering tips and guidance on everything from settling into a new culture and social life to developing academic skills and succeeding at exams.
Study Skills for International Students has been written by Dr Kathleen McMillan, academic skills adviser, and Dr Jonathan Weyers, director of quality assurance. Between them, the authors have 60 years of teaching experience.
“Whatever their age, experience and background, learning at a UK university marks an exciting new phase in the life of international students, but it is also a challenging time,” said Dr McMillan.
“There is a lot of information to gather, filter and make into some sort of sense. Students are arriving in a new country and becoming immersed in a new higher-education culture. They need to adapt quickly to different learning and teaching approaches and to assimilate all sorts of new jargon.
“Universities work hard to support international students and help them settle into this new life. With this book, we are looking to give students a resource that they can dip into whenever they need academic advice.”
Dr Weyers said the book was informed by the authors’ knowledge of the many challenges faced by new students.
“Learning at university in the UK builds on one basic notion – that students, regardless of age or experience, are good at organising themselves and so will quickly conform to the standards that the university community expects,” he said.
“As professional academics, we know that this is not achieved quite as quickly as everyone – staff, students and their families – might wish, partly because there is so much to learn how to do.
“Hopefully, our book will help students get to grips with their new life more quickly and, in the end, perform better as a result.”
Study Skills for International Students is published by Prentice Hall, an imprint of Pearson Education Limited, and is available now.