Supporting international students’ integration

International students have many challenges when entering and trying to adapt to new life, culture and studies in a strange country. The INTEGRA: Low threshold support for Porvoo campus international students -project aimed to create new practices for student integration. During the project we created and tested low threshold sustainable services to support and encourage international students to become active agents in adapting to their new situation.

Students’ challenges with integration

We started the development with interviews and surveys directed at our international students. Analysing the results, we captured the following aspects as the most difficult to tackle when students are entering a new country for studies.

Language

Most respondents highlighted the Finnish language as their biggest challenge: they had difficulty in finding jobs without Finnish skills and English-only opportunities are limited in Finland. Furthermore, the everyday tasks, for instance reading documents and labels, are harder without Finnish language skills.

Employment

The job market is very competitive, especially for foreigners and there is a lack of even part-time or entry-level jobs for non-Finnish speakers. That is why there is a pressure to learn Finnish quickly for better employability.

Climate and weather

Cold winter and harsh conditions were mentioned frequently. The students found it difficult to adjust to long and dark winters and challenging to prepare for proper clothing.

Housing and settling in

Finding apartments is time-consuming and stressful. The students had issues with unfurnished housing, long commutes, and lack of guidance on essentials before arrival in Finland. They expressed a desire for better support systems, for example, buddy programs and campus tours.

Cultural and social integration

Many students mentioned the difficulty to adapt to Finnish culture and reserved social norms compared to their own cultures. In addition, they found making friends challenging and would have hoped for more informal interaction opportunities with Finns. There were some mentions of feeling judged or experiencing subtle discrimination.

Information and support

Respondents felt that orientation information was often forgotten or insufficient and that there was a need for quick, accessible help, for example, chat or WhatsApp support. In addition, they believed there was a limited visibility of services and guidance for newcomers.

Despite the previous challenges many students appreciated Finnish people’s kindness and helpfulness. In addition, the systems and processes such as services of DVV, the digital and population data services agency, and transport services were generally seen as smooth and logical. Some respondents reported successful adaptation and satisfaction.

Creating support solutions

The INTEGRA-project started with analysing the needs of the students and local companies and benchmarking the existing courses, methods and programmes in Haaga-Helia, in Finland and abroad. Research on student integration supported the results of our student interviews and surveys.

Language skills are vital and linked to success in studies. Furthermore, knowledge of academic expectations and systems, and cultures alleviate the integration and lastly, peer mentoring has been found to be a successful measure. Social contacts, such as students’ contacts with other students, friends, and university staff, enhance integration. (Bianchi & Martini 2023.) Kuh et al. (2006) emphasise the importance of social networks that are relevant because relationships with colleagues, employers, mentors, and broader social connections contribute significantly to international graduates’ professional success. This can be linked with students seeking and doing internships and looking for employment. Cultural issues may be challenging, and cultural integration can be alleviated by cultural programmes that help understand the environment and adapt to the norms and values (Bianchi & Martini 2023). Participating in extracurricular activities can also lead to smoother integration (Tinto 1975).

In the project, we adopted experiential learning practices (Keeton & Yate 1978; Kolb 2015) as a method in developing the support practices. At Haaga-Helia we encourage students to gain important work life competences through experiential learning and to act as proactive and self-driven professionals. Learners are directly in touch with reality, learning by doing. The project teachers acted as facilitators and coaches in this endeavour.

Based on the ground work, we focused on the following effective and sustainable actions to support our international students:

• networking and integration to the community (e.g., leisure, sports, culture, language and social life)
• peer support in pre-arrival, arrival and during studies
• career design courses and career events

Initiatives to support international students

Our first initiative was the INTEGRA Internship programme, as peer tutor support was found essential. The project team consisted of two interns who carried out the planning, designing and implementing the support activities and events together with three teachers supporting them. The interns offered practical help and in-person peer-to-peer help on arrival. They took part in the orientation days together with guidance counsellors and student services, and offered low threshold pop-up sessions on a daily basis in the campus lobby.

Secondly, we created an online info package to cater for the student needs before and after arrival. The info package is now available on Haaga-Helia’s website and sent to the students receiving the information about the acceptance to study. The package includes a journey map of a student in pre-arrival stage, upon-arrival and during studies, and offers versatile information on housing, essential documents and formalities, daily life, transportation, Finnish language and culture, matters related to studies and academic life.

Thirdly, a Teams channel was set up for sharing important information related to studies and life on campus and in Finland, community and social events, job openings, news on career events on campus and elsewhere, language learning tools and opportunities. In addition, the channel allows the international students to connect with peers in the international community.

Our fourth initiative were networking and career planning events focusing on international students. The main focus of the events was on international students networking with companies, showing CVs and discussing career plans with prospective employers. Companies and local associations were invited to share insights. All in all, closer contacts and tighter co-operation were established.

The fifth INTEGRA initiative was a new career design course to support the students’ integration into the Finnish work life and networking with outside stakeholders. The course helps students develop their career planning skills, identify the key components of a meaningful career path, ideate alternative career paths and try out their ideas to brand themselves in the Finnish labour market. During the course students cultivate professional relationships with peers, mentors and industry experts and make local connections in a do-good voluntary project/work giving back to the society they want to integrate into. The project also offered a supplementary course in Finnish with practical activities and visits.

Lastly, monthly leisure time activities were arranged by the interns. Students took part in the local seasonal activities such as the Autumn river carnival, Halloween, Christmas markets and workshops. Wellbeing activities were arranged together with local entrepreneurs.

Impact and feedforward

The target audience i.e. newly arrived foreign students were reached well, and they valued the services. Especially the arrival package and pop-up sessions were welcomed and valued. The events attracted the students and the local actors involved were committed. The career design course received positive student feedback and recommendations.

Summing up our experience, low threshold face-to-face support is of utmost importance for international students, especially at arrival. Ideally, the support should be given by peers.

Due to shared experiences student interns are perceived approachable, creating a relaxed environment that encourages newcomers to share concerns and ask questions. Peers relate to challenges and cultural differences in ways that teachers and Finnish staff may not fully understand.

Communication between students is natural and informal whereas students from abroad are accustomed to hierarchical relationships with staff and teachers. In addition, interns can be available beyond official hours thus often providing quicker and more flexible support, including help with non-academic issues, filling gaps where institutional services may be slow or limited. Furthermore, peer support reduces the workload of guidance counsellors, allowing them to focus on academic responsibilities and study guidance rather than addressing general matters.

The INTEGRA-project concluded with redommendations for development of new, versatile ways of company collaboration, for instance a possibility of local mentor programme and Networking and career design course. In the future, the interns could maintain the Teams channel and take care of regular updating of the info package. A shared calendar for coordinating and documenting campus projects and events is needed to hinder overlapping initiatives.

All in all, the project achieved its targets and developed sustainable support services to be integrated in Haaga-Helia Porvoo practices. The services were based on student needs and were well received. The INTEGRA team suggests that created activities are continued to guarantee international student wellbeing and integration.

Picture: Haaga-Helia