A Basic Formula for Effective International Student Services

Abstract

The effective delivery of support services for international students has been the subject of professional discourse for nearly a century (Wheeler, King & Davidson, 1925). While scholars have long examined the problem of student attrition, early retention models (Spady, 1970; Tinto, 1988) applied anthropological, psychological and sociological theories in ways that mostly ignored the intuitional responsibility and capacity to serve culturally diverse individuals. Furthermore, an analysis of fifty years of student affairs research found that international students were mostly excluded (Pope, Mueller and Reynolds, 2009). It was not until the establishment of the Journal of International Students that international students began to receive regular attention within the academic literature.