Asian students who migrate to the UK for scholarships face many challenges.
Why Asian Student faced many Challenges while studying in The UK
Today we are discussing The main challenges faced by Asian students who migrate to the UK for scholarships. On the other hand, In South Asia and East Asia, including India, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, China, and Sri Lanka, students from the leading countries of Asia have seen an increase in the trend of migrating to Western countries for their higher education throughout the last two decades. In South Asia and East Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, China, and Sri Lanka, students from the major countries of Asia have seen an increase in the trend of migrating to Western countries for their higher education throughout the last two decades. The desire to move to the United Kingdom is exceptionally high among them.
Why Students Choose the UK
The UK is one of the world’s top ten most student-attracting countries. According to the stats of https://www.studying-in-uk.org/, more than 350000+ students annually come from Asia to the UK for their High studies. It is a high percentage of about 65% among the 550,000 students who come to the United Kingdom annually.
There are many reasons why many students from Asian countries come to the UK for scholarships and education. The UK offers various types of scholarships for many students. For example, there are many examples like Commonwealth Scholarships, Gates-Cambridge Scholarships, and British Council Scholarships.
Another primary reason why students come to the UK is that UK universities are ranked among the best in the world. According to QS Ranking, top-ranked universities in the world, Oxford University, The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and UCL in the United Kingdom, are among the world’s ten best universities and can give an evident appreciation of the value of quality education in the United Kingdom.
The dream of anyone who moves away from their home country is to become more successful. Some goals vary from person to person. But we can identify some of the main problems a student who gets a scholarship to another country may experience.
1. Language Difficulties Challenges
Language proficiency is considered a mandatory qualification for students immigrating to the UK for scholarships. Even a student with a high level of English language ability can have some difficulties understanding the pronunciation of the English language, where pronunciation varies according to regional usage. Due to this, experts say that some sentences are suddenly tricky to recognize and have to be misconceived.
Many international students will not ask others to explain what they mean out of fear of offending them or increasing their insecurity. Their lack of understanding may be viewed negatively by peers or professors. And if they sense a negative response, many are even more reluctant to ask for explanations. The result confirmed by the above facts is the decline in the self-esteem of international students.
2. Financial Challenges
Another problem is that students immigrating to the UK from Asia on a scholarship may face financial hardship. An immigrant student may face financial difficulties since they don’t have enough money, spend more than they had planned, have some lifestyle problems, have a sudden illness, or delay bringing cash from their home country. Some people also face financial difficulties because they must change their accommodation and spend money to arrange transportation facilities.
Also, when the expenses received from the scholarship are not enough, Some students borrow money from home to cover their shortfalls and costs. Putting in extra effort to cover those expenses is a challenge that increases the students’ stress.
3. Cultural Challenges
We are well aware of many differences between Asian and Western cultures. There are even differences in food patterns and clothing. On the other hand, it is common to experience cultural changes even during climatic periods. Having to experience these things at once can sometimes be a problem for someone from Asia.
Also, the freedom of sexuality in Britain is more genderless than in many Asian countries. In cultures that embrace these behaviours and identities, openness around sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender can be uncomfortable.
4. Academic Challenges
Another major challenge a scholarship student faces is maintaining their university education at an optimal level. The scholarship conditions state that some scholarship functions may be cancelled due to your annual GPA not being high enough. For this reason, students must make maximum effort to achieve the highest marks in their examinations and thesis. Education experts point to this as a significant challenge many scholarship-holder students face.
To elaborate this further, the emphasis on academic discussions and explanations is a disadvantage for international students for whom speaking English is not entirely spontaneous.
The discussion model, where different points of view are explained and discussed, contrasts with models used and learned in other countries that expect “perfect answers.”
It is a well-known fact that in many cultures in Asia, it is regarded as disrespectful to oppose or dispute a professor’s or teacher’s opinion. In Asian countries, grading is heavily weighted toward final exams, contrary to the emphasis on classroom participation and utilization of office hours. Still, the student has to adapt to a different educational environment in the UK.
Also, some students may have problems taking notes or giving oral presentations due to some issues with language and a lack of listening comprehension. Having to make a presentation in English and failing to present the answer expected by the teacher in the correct language, the level of marks may be reduced, which may be inconvenient for those who hold a scholarship.
5. Social Isolation Challenge
All international students who come to the UK miss home but are only able to return on average twice a year, which is normal, especially for freshers.
Additionally, due to time zone differences, Britain’s distance from Asia makes it more challenging to call home at convenient times. So you may be far away from your close family ones.
Another reason can be the lack of space and privacy.
Students come with fewer belongings (limited to two or three suitcases), which means their area is less personalized. Other students are naturally extroverts like them, sharing less common activities with their roommates, such as sports teams or extracurricular activities. You have to get away from a lot of unique household appliances.
Furthermore, their holidays are not consistently recognized by the UK government. They may not have traditions or ties to the holidays they observe here. Students will naturally gravitate to students from their own cultures, but those groups are usually small in number. Students further isolate themselves from fully integrating with their roommates or classmates. International students will be away from their families, friends, language, and social and cultural norms. They have to build a new social status.
6. Racial and Ethnic Prejudice challenges
In the UK, you may see international students as outsiders and feel marginalized in class and social settings. Being the only international student in the classroom is a significant reason for facing such thoughts.
People who lack complete English fluency or have more pronounced accents are often considered intellectually challenged. However, some problems may arise due to competition. Symbols of membership in religious or ethnic groups, such as religious clothing or headdresses,
Because of your skin colour or your shyness, you may try to hide in places where there are more natives. You may have thoughts about whether I am suitable for this society. For example, in a public place such as a bus, train, park, restaurant, cinema or musical show, you feel cornered, and everyone looks at you.
7. Stereotyping Challenges
International students visiting Britain are often misunderstood and subject to false assumptions about their local culture. Because the British higher education system generally does not expose students to a higher level of understanding of the history and cultures of other countries outside of history or social studies courses.
On further study, there are many countries that young British people are not at all familiar with or only know about historical stereotypes of a few countries. In addition, there are many complexities not presented to British students regarding border tensions and warfare within ethnic minorities and oppressed groups, as well as between countries.
There has been no significant expansion of the British secondary and college education curriculum to learn about other countries and cultures and their local traditions, holidays, religions, food, clothing, and family relationships. Therefore, sharing their narratives with international students can be problematic. British students learn about other countries’ cultures through conversations with peers and the Internet. Feeling limited about yourself due to this cultural disparity also brings some stress when dealing with them.
8. Climate changing
Another problem faced by students coming to England for scholarships from Asia is adjusting to the weather changes in the UK, such as the seasonality, the snowy season, the rainy season, etc.
When students move to England, they have no experience with weather and climate change. Some things that everyone pays attention to in their home country may be overlooked in another country. Sometimes students are unaware of weather alerts due to language skills or other issues, which keep information away from them.
9. Emotional Breakdown and Psychological Challenges
Homesickness can be identified as one of the main problems for international students coming to the UK from Asia. Moving away from the family members we love the most and moving to a completely different country for an extended period is heartbreaking. The immigrant student is compounded by academic, social, cultural, and financial pressures. Losing loved ones who have been unconditionally there for them can lead to extreme stress, anxiety, and depression.
Often there is a conflict between students’ emotional struggles to achieve their personal goals and students’ need to feel privileged and fortunate to study abroad. And international students tend to ignore their mental health issues. Many international students do not seek mental health services. They are at increased risk for mental health problems due to a lack of access to treatment services and isolation. Because they think that mental health issues are often stigmatized. After all, they do not fit with their cultural norms and expectations. In addition, students may not attend the mental health services available on campus or may not be open about their feelings, making it difficult to discuss or seek treatment.
We discussed the challenges and difficulties you may face as a new immigrant to the UK. Don’t worry, or don’t be afraid. There are straightforward and perfect solutions for these. Below we have presented an excellent approach to overcoming your challenges. By studying them carefully, you can win in future or present challenges.
What can you do as an international student to devastate these challenges?
1. Access college resources and support services.
UK universities have many resources to help international students from Asia navigate the academic system, such as writing and learning centres. Students can also get help with mental health programs, service learning, and work-study by contacting counsellors. International student organizations can help you get used to the university culture as a student.
2. Share ideas with other international students.
Your feelings of isolation will be alleviated by sharing your experiences with students from other countries, sharing cultural features, working through problems, and discussing solutions with other international students.
Additionally, suppose you live in a large city. In that case, there are often formal or informal groups for visitors and residents from other countries, allowing you to mingle and meet with colleagues.
3. Use host families or family support.
Many UK universities have host families sorted by country of origin. They can identify alums currently living or working in those countries and serve as advisers on your issues.
If you have close family members in the UK, seek their support. Many international students report that emotional support from their home families is most helpful. Otherwise, you can get mental health by connecting with your family as soon as possible.
