Thompsons River University case study

Thompsons River University case study

Introduction

Background of the study

Thompsons River University TRU was established in 1970 as a public academic and Research University. The university which is located in Kamloops BC Canada has become one of the most robust universities in provision of education to international students from all over the world. From its inception to date, many global leaders and people in the business world have graduated from the university owing to the favourable environment that the university offers to the thousands of its international students globally. Compared to other universities in Canada, TRU University stands out as one of the best in the element of education to the international students from the different parts of the world. The education that is delivered by the university has been found to be meeting the needs of the thousands of students from the other countries. Hence the university has continued to attract more students from other parts of the world.  The university which is at the vicinity of the commercial district and the residential areas has the best educational programs for the international that meet the individuals and the collective need of these students.

Over the past decade, TRU has recorded one of the higher registers of the international student’s than any other major universities in the country. TRU is the leading institution in the country in term of incorporating the various need of the international student’s an element which has dramatically impacted on the number of student’s from other parts of the world joining this institution of higher learning. This can be attributed to the various elements of the educational needs the university has and which works in attracting a considerably larger number of student’s from across the world. TRU university has multiple programs which help the students in fitting the different needs of the individual needs and hence meeting well with this learning institution away from home.  Compared to the others universities in Canada such as the University of Toronto, University of Alberta, McGill University and the University of Waterloo, the TRU still emerges the best in terms of the education program which support the various needs of the international students. The goal of the report is to investigate the method that is used by the TRU in meeting the needs of the international students compared to other universities in Canada.  The research used quantitative methods of data collection, especially a combination of the interviews and the use of questionnaire in investigating the research topic.

Discussion

Student instructor relationship

As most of the universities in Canada and in the United States are investigating the best possible way of internationalization, TRU staff have provided valuable suggestions for the consideration. One of the most reliable elements of the international student cooperation has been established to be in line with the student’s instructor relationship.  For most university global and in Canada in particular, the student-instructor relationship is formal. In such institutions, asking for assistance from the university instructor or academic staff is viewed as some form of incompetence or theoretical weakness. TRU has made this discussion of the support from the instructor to students is an informal one. Students do feel free to interact with the instructor and the culture created by the same is not a culture of looking at it as a way of showing incompetence on the side of the student. International students often have the challenge of understanding the academic methodologies used in Canada in their first years of study. As such to meet this individual need of the international students from all over the world, the university has developed strategies of ensuring that the students have their instructor at their disposal at most time of the day for clarifications. Unlike the other universities in Canada such as the University of Toronto where education is based on the instructor. TRU education is learner-based an element which most international students do find encouraging and easy to cope up with. The university has eliminated some of the common barriers that most universities in Canada are putting on the cultural aspects.

TRU has also built the reputation of its international students on this kind of personalized services which make the students from other parts of the world confident about their joining of the institution. As a general rule, the TRU meets the various needs of the students through some particular way which other universities have not developed. For instance, the genuine program which has not been experienced in any other university, the university does hire ten student’s advisers and one supervisor to mirror as a close as possible the cultural and linguistic makeup of the university’s international students.  A leading University in the country such as the University of Toronto has no such institution. Despite its massive success in another element of education and co-curriculum development for the country, it has not been able to successfully develop a program such as that which is used by the TRU for the international students. Additionally, the university has its doors opened for the assistance of students in dealing with inevitable homesickness, romantic vows, course work and occasion; classes of culture that students are likely to experience at some point in their study at TRU. The institution acknowledges the need for a student’s to interact with someone from their cultural background who understand their language as it believes that this makes a massive difference in the academic welling of the student.

Good reputation

Thompson Rivers University has managed to build a perfect reputation of the international student program with personalized service. The school has perfected in hiring students’ advisers and supervisors to mirror as closely as possible both the cultural and linguistic makeup of the international students. The school doors are ever open for every student deal with the possible inevitable homesickness, the course work queries and potential cultural clashes. However, the school recognizes that spending much on the student’s services differentiates it from other institutions

The college began in 1970 and was initially offered a two-year university transfer program to its local students. In the mid-1980s, the college started admitting the international students. In the recent years, the college has managed to keep the steady flow of the international students. This had indeed allowed the university to keep the student’s population level at a time when the numbers of its local students remained flat. Being dependent on its international programs, the college deliberately seeks to draw students from a broader range. The college does not rely on a stream of students from a few countries, and it is perfectly positioned to weather a loss if Canada’s relations with a nation goes out of the box. For instance, when Saudi Arabia decided to recall some of its students in response to one critical tweet that was made by Canada’s foreign minister at a time when the college had 11 Saudi students. The college staff was focused on helping the students rather than worrying about the hit they would get from the lost revenue.

Proper integration and orientation

The college recognizes that sometimes it is a challenge dealing with people from different backgrounds and beliefs. One familiar thing that the college has taken into consideration is the deployment of a homestay program that is able to enhance integration perfectly. Proper orientation is given to the students and host families to encourage a proper accurate cross-cultural exchange. The students who struggle with English are made to study the full language time until they reach the proficiency that is an International English Language Testing System until they are able to participate fully in class.

The remedial English students are allowed to add an extra academic class once they reach a particular level and an extra one once they advance further. Considering the college’s perspective, the teachers and classmates are encouraged to work with a broad mix of students who come to the college with different educational and cultural backgrounds. The college also has professors who teach faculty and students about the cultural differences in education and learning styles so that they can understand each other well. For instance, those students from North America are always expected to be active learners. Most of them do not hesitate giving answers to questions and to challenge their teachers. But for some students from different cultures consider this behaviour impolite or inappropriate.

Therefore, the professors’ offer seminars that try to explore these intercultural differences, and even sometimes involve role-plays where local students practice switching communication styles. The teachers are therefore made aware of the different styles and preferences and how to correctly structure group assignments to actively gauge success by the group’s ability to involve all the students. Other initiatives that the college has put in place proper orientation is the offering of the International Student Life Handbook and student orientation that have been enhanced to include sections on the critical issues about the academic success and the Canadian culture. Secondly, the college has developed various workshops on the intercultural communications that can introduce the cross-cultural theories and their proper application in classrooms.

The school has also developed a centre of learning and teaching that plays an important role in the dissemination of the resources and for the accurate presentation of the intercultural communication workshops. The college’s faculty members are always engaged in exploring how to handle international students and appropriately integrating them into the functional classroom. For many years of internationalization, the college has been able to involve the faculty members develop the practical and concrete approaches for educating the international students within a Canadian context.

As part of the integration, the college has however initiated programs like the Canadian Buddy Program that is meant to match the international students with the Canadian students. Any students interested in the cultural exchange is free to join the program. International Days at TRU are days meant for the celebration of cultures from around the world, the students and the community members come to share and experience food and music. The international flags and prayer and meditation are also other programs deployed to enhance integration.

Global citizenship

One thing that is not common in other universities is how the Thompson Rivers University is committed to fostering the global citizenry, it has positioned itself as an international university of its own kind. From developing the global literacy, awareness and understanding to interact within correctly and among different cultures, and this has become an increasingly relevant and essential educational goal. Cultural diversity has become the university’s significant feature. Students from over 60 countries have precisely taken advantage of the comprehensive range of programs and the unique combinations of flexible learning programs.

International students contribute more to the unique perspective to the college’s diversity. The college allows students to learn about Canada languages, people and customs. On the other hand, the college also allows the local students to gain cultural knowledge and make intercultural friendship through in and out of classroom interactions. This international engagement enables the college to open more full doors for a more excellent range of cultural, economic and scholarly exchange for its students. The college uses this interchange to become more vibrant and most necessary increasingly interconnected global society. Internalization, therefore, makes a pathway to what the college calls global citizenship for the students.

The college’s faculty members are in a continual search for ways to become most effective at teaching a culturally diverse to the whole student body. The university has designed resources to extend and support these efforts. The international student support services have been put in place to help them make cross-cultural transitions. Unlike other universities in Canada, the college has established a centre for learning and teaching that provides it with new and great opportunity to deepen the dialogue with the international students, share expertise and develop further practices. The college is committed to inviting students from all corners of the globe to their general educational community.

Opportunities for different types of students

Thompson Rivers University welcomes students from all over the world for both the short term and full programs. First, the college offers Independent Fee-Paying international students. This group of international students is quite distinct because these students have elected, through their own research and planning to come to the college and pay their full fees.  These students are not at the college through any kind of inter-institutional arrangement. They hope to obtain degrees from the college, and their program keeps them in the college for 4-5 years. The college also allows students who are not complete their plans from the college to transfer to other degree-granting institutions. However, the fees paid by these students is almost four times that spent by the local students, this covers the full cost of education at the university and also caters for the subsidized TRU World’s international marketing and other associated expenses.

Secondly, the college allows the exchange students of students, and these are students who study in the college for one or two semesters. An international student on exchange pays for the tuition fees to their home students and comes to the college to study as part of the college’s exchange agreements. Third, the college offers scholarship to international students, and the college accepts a smaller number of international students on a scholarship basis. It awards the learning to the international students that cover either part or all their fees based on the exceptional circumstances that may include the athletic ability, their academic merit or refugee status. Depending on the students’ country of origin, international students do find a difficult time in adjusting to the Canadian educational environment and the local standards.

The TRU formerly UCC has been receiving international students from all over the world since the 1980s. Over the past decades, many faculty members have evolved their different methodologies and communication strategies to respond to the ever-increasing cultural diversity. They have, at the same time seeking ways of helping Canadian student appreciate and benefit from the ever plentiful opportunities in their mods which is provided by the element of internationalization. However, the internationalization process is relatively a new scenario and issues are quite complete in its implementation process. Managing increased workloads that are related to marking ad useful support feedback Is the crucial first challenge of effective integration of the international or the cross cultures with Canadian culture also proves very difficult at some points. The issue with academic honesty and plagiarism among the foreign student’s is one element which the university has to deal with ion the same process of internationalization. As such, the development of a scenario where the internationalize students blends perfectly with the Canadian community has become one of the most challenging issues to deal with. In response to the increasing cultural diversity at TRU, the university academic classrooms instructors are evolving programs and approaches aim at increasing the element of inclusivity. TRU faculty members have considerably adjusted in various areas including facilitation of programs, the adaption of curriculum, delivery methodologies, communication style and the integration of academic techniques, an element which has greatly improved the manner ins which international students are being incorporated within the institution.

A closer look at the ques of the student’s in any operational service area of the university, and one will register a considerable array of languages ranging from the Japanese, Portuguese, Farsi and dozens of other words being spoken among the smaller groups of the international students. This is an indication of the considerably more abundant population of the international student’s in the country.in a semester, TRU did register over 3500 full-time international students. All the students come from over 100 countries across the world. Compared to any other university in Canada, this is the most significant enrollment of the international student’s in the country. As compared to other major universities in the country, TRU university does organize the best reception from the international student’s from other countries. A case study from a student Theresia Wangari from Nairobi, Kenya who upon arriving at the country from a flight all the way in Africa did have the fear of being the only students from the region was received by another student’s Reuben Onyango who happened to have been in the school from some time and speak Kiswahili, Kenya’s official language is an indication of the good program that the schools have for such student’s. Such programs have been found to be the primary cause of the more significant influx of students in the institution. The university brags of a considerably broader and more accommodative program which meets the different needs of eh Internation students globally. Most students after documenting an in-depth research

TRU has developed various programs which are aimed at enhancing the students peer international. This is one of the first most crucial elements of the best corporation that the institution is experiencing. As a general rule, the institution has the faculty staff member is engaging students in the best feature of international between them and other Canadian students. This makes learning them very interesting. A report conducted in the University of Alberta, one of the leading university in Canada does reveal that the population of the international students stood at 16% by 2017. This is way below that of TRU which was found to be at 38% as at the same year. The study did reveal that most of the students join the university cites specific program which they find refreshing compared to that offered by the other universities in Canada. Among the most cited reason is the education which recognizes the cultural diversity element of the students from all over the world.

TRU uses peer evaluations which particular is essential for the international students. A self-assessments conducted by the university has been determined to be very crucial in helping the students understanding how their work is comprehensive. Second language students can significantly benefit from the feedback that they do receive from their peers concerning the clarity of information that they collect from others. This builds confidence in them, better choice of topic and means of keeping the audience engaged in the right way. TRU has been ever since its inception keen on the development of the significant practices which appreciates the individual’s student’s ability at the same level, both the resident students and the international students. It does not show any form of biasness in its practice, especially when dealing with the individuals needs of the students in the country. As a general rule, the company does take a lot of credit in the development of   students which meets the respective needs of student’s academic and social elements

Research on cultural diversity teaching

The university faculty members are continually in research to come up with ways of becoming more effective a teaching a culturally diverse student body. As a result of this, the university faculty member is focused on the development of key procedures of ensuring that all the students within the facility are closely associated with the diverse aspect of their studies. TRU is integrating the various teaching methodologies and has in the latest invention introduced teachings which recognizes other foreign languages.  The international student’s supports services are in place to support and assist such students within the institution s in making cross-cultural transitions. The establishment of the centres of teaching and learning within the facility do offer the institution students with news opportunity of deepening the dialogues with international students, share the expertise and further develop the practices aimed at encouraging the students’  academic excellence.

TRU does promote the development of an academic program which recognizes the needs of the international students in a various way. One of such programs is based on the element of cultural teachings. As a rule, the country has developed a means of encouraging both the student from Canada and other countries to take on the students is relating to international studies intending to develop an understating how best to interact with the other students. According to a survey by   Idzikowski (2014)   on the impact of culturally responsive teaching on the foreign student academic achievement, the most student who relates the element of cross-cultural education are likely to achieve much academically as a result of the cultural interactions. TRU is paying closer attention to this element of knowledge with a greater focus based on the impact of the student’s engagement from the various backgrounds.  The individual need of international students starts with an understanding of the best way to promote teamwork between the diverse cultures. This is the focus on the education provides by the TRU.

Conclusions and recommendation

TRU has remained one of the most attractive universities in Canada not only to the Canadian students but most for the international students who are tricking from all over the world. The institution, unlike others in the country, brags of the largest population of foreign students as a result of the state of art facilities and the best education at the interest of these international students. Various universities in the country lag behind in the provision of training that meets the individual’s needs of international students from all over the world. This is as a result of the lack of a heavy focus on education which is very inclusive and recognizes the cultural diversity aspect. This has remained the critical attraction element for the international students who are joining the institution for various programs each year. TRU has also integrated the use of the multiple languages in its multiple faculties such as Spanish, Chinese, French and Germany and element which has been established to be one of the leading cause of the enhanced international student population in the institution.

The university also offers unique programs which accommodate the different needs of the international students. Most of the programs that are offered at the university do recognize the cultural diversity needs and hence attracting more students than any other university in the country. A survey among two different universities in the country other than TRU that is the university of Toronto and Alberta does indicate that that the tow university have a total of less than 10 program each which are pursued by the international students. However, TRU has a total of 26 programs which are very which are pursed by the international students exclusively. This stands out as one of the leading attraction for the international student’s population to the institution. Most of the students from the foreign country therefore finds the university very appealing and more attractive.

Recommendations

• Most universities lags behind in terms of the international student’s population. This element can be attributed to various factors. However, an emulation of the TRU scenario is the leading cure to the problem of the low population of foreign students in the other universities in Canada. With the needs of the student from the diverse culture taken care of, there is need for the other universities to first work closely with the TRU in order to ensure that they attract more students. I do recommend that the others universities in Canada work together with TRU on their various programs to integrate some of their programs in the university as well as a means of ensuring that more universities are enrolled in these institution.
• The other universities such as the university of Toronto and the Albater university in Canada needs to incorporate the international student program within their faculty in ensuring that they attract more foreign students from all over the world. One element which misses in these universities unlike TRU is the acknowledgment of the need for the international studies or other students which would be crucial to the international students. As such there is need for tee various universities in Canada  to consider coming up with other programs which would  attract most international students from the various parts of the world as a means of encouraging the  international students population. The other universities also need to understand the need for integration of the culture diversity studies to accommodate the various need of the various students from all over the world to join the university.
• The other universities need to start teaching other languages as a means of encouraging the intake of international students. The university need to follow the example set by the TRU which teaches other foreign languages making them able to appreciate the need for joining the institution as they are made to feel at home away from home.
• Other universities need to consider development of faculties which are more accommodative of the diverse culture of the world. This would help in attraction of the students from other universities from the various places all over the world. Integration of various languages in their students in order to accommodate the various need of the international students is the first most important step towards a better education system.
• The universities need to come up with programs and practices that integrate a better instructor student’s interaction. Most of the universities in Canada lack a better platform for the interaction of these two groups. One of the most important element of this interaction is a platform where students are fee to interact with the various professors and have get specific recommendation for their studies. This will help in boosting the morale of the students and promote a better learning experience.
• Since social aspect of university education is very crucial. The universities in Canada need to appreciate the element of social practices in its practices, most of the students need to recognize the individual social needs with bid of attracting more international students globally. More students would therefore be attracted by this practices.

References

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