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Prof. Douglas
Imani Jackson
UWRT 1101-090
November 9, 2014

International College Diversity

Ever since attending college, Imani has found out the international diverse community on
campus was very interesting to her. Noticing many different races, ethnicities and mixes, she
decided to take action on learning more about foreign students and their purpose for international
learning. For her primary research she decided to take a trip on the University of North Carolina
at Charlottes (UNCC) campus at the Health and Human Services building to observe the
international student activity. She chose this building because of her two, nice international
friends told her that during their study of the English language at UNCC, that was their home.
Her research started on the first floor of the building looking at the morning activity up toward
the afternoon activity.
She started in the morning at about 10:00; there were a lot of English learning classes as
well as other classes being taught, which made a lot of students unite toward the building. She
could hear Caucasian females discussing their day and work that was due. They talked very
loudly so at the time, it was all she could hear besides the background footsteps and chatter. She
noticed the diversity in the building during the morning. There were many ethnicities on their
laptops or discussing their morning activities, waiting for classes to begin. One group in
particular that Imani noticed was some Indian males and females that gathered to talk in their

language; they seemed very happy. The time of the activity noticed by Imani was about thirty
minutes later, at 10:30 in the morning. Throughout the time she was there she figured that the
majority of the Indian students would gather in groups of three or more; she would rarely see any
individually. When classes started, there was still activity throughout the building; students and
staff walking through the building which helped Imani notice the other kinds of cultures in the
university. There would be students from Saudi Arabia, Asia and various Spanish speaking
countries. She observed that students thrived for friendship and academics. Friends and students
would participate in hand gestures, hugs, group outings and English practice amongst themselves.
This, to Imani, showed their motivation for communication and learning. When classes were
over, the activity throughout the building increased once again; which was at 11:45. She could
hear the discussions of lunch, laughter and some type of music playing in the background.
During the noise, she saw more international students make their way in and out of the building.
After a while she decided it would be a great time to conclude the primary research, so she left at
12 oclock. On her way out Imanis assumptions and curiosity about international studies
brought her to the secondary research about why international students would come to the United
States to learn their academics.
Going back into the history of America, after the Word War II, the United States wanted
to increase their presence of international students to expand the cultural relations with many
parts of the world. After the war, there were cultural concerns that the United States wanted to
reconstruct the educational system to build a more organized and diverse way of learning. This
small section of Kwasi Sarkodie Mensahs article would explain why Imani saw so many
international students. Though, she is sure that it did not come up so quickly, but rather gradually.
To further understand the students impact on campus, Imani researched the international

students information on the UNCCs profile on cfnc.org. Based off the data, there are seventythree countries represented on UNCCs campus, which makes it incredibly diverse (CFNC.org).
Foreign students come to the United States for educational purposes to learn new material,
get a great new experience outside of their home land, learn new cultural aspects, and make
relationships. There are other reasons like learning English, trying to find a job and even just to
get the experience needed to go back and help their country at home. Most likely, the country in
which the foreign student would come from, would be given a scholarship to come to the United
States to get their academics, and go back to work for a company that would then benefit their
country. There are also cases like conflict in a country which would put the educational
economy at a standstill; like war. Students from that country would sometimes come to be safe
and continue to learn when theres no way else to learn in their country. This example reminded
Imani about her talk with her friend, Nesreen; because it was her situation as well. They spoke
about the war in her country that made all students stop learning at the same time. This event
explained why she is now a freshman at an older age than someone who would come directly
after high school. Though it was a saddening conversation, it just comes to show the protection
and hope it gives students from other countries to still pursue something within their lives..
To finish Imanis research on international studies, she reflected on both primary and
secondary research. This reflection brought her to the conclusion that international studies is a
helpful opportunity for students in other countries. It can bring a whole new life to some, but it
can also reach out to those looking to widen their academics to a whole new level. Imani now
looks up to international students because they have a great amount of motivation that she could
use in her life as well.

Work Cited
Sarkodie-Mensah, Kwasi. "International Students in the U.S.: Trends, Cultural Adjustments, and
Solutions for a Better Experience." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
39.3 (1998): 214-22. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
J. Lee, Jenny, and Charles Rice. "Welcome to America? International Student Perceptions of
Discrimination." Higher Education 53.3 (2007): 381-409. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Rienties, Bart, Simon Beausaert, Therese Grohnert, Susan Niemantsverdriet, and Piet Kommers.
"Understanding Academic Performance of International Students: The Role of Ethnicity,
Academic and Social Integration." Higher Education 63.6 (2012): 685-700. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
"Univerity of North Carolina at Charlotte." CFNC.org. UNCC, 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
<https://www1.cfnc.org/Plan/For_College/Explore_Postsecondary_Schools/School_Profile/School_Profi
le.aspx?iid=wwYJaiRsFiQ3XAP2FPAXqQ1oqTA2wXAP3DPAXXAP3DPAX>.