A Cross-Culture Study of the Opportunities and Challenges of International Students Attending Schools of Business at Western Universities and Higher Education Colleges: “Now, I Have Sufficient Self-Confidence to Seek Advice, and Act on It”

International students attending schools of business at Western universities encounter various interrelated academic, language, cultural and socio-emotional challenges that impact their educational performance and success in their respective study programs, thus, shape their future professional prospects. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, develop a better understanding of the cultural and socio-emotional experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending American, British, and Australian universities in 2018, 2019, and early 2020. Secondly, find ways in which American, British, and Australian higher education providers can enhance their efforts in meeting the cultural and social-emotional needs of their international Middle Eastern students. Thirdly, discuss the academic and language experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending schools of business at Western universities in the above mentioned three countries. To this end, case studies have been designed for this purpose, where data is collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Accordingly, this study is guided by a series of research questions, as opposed to hypothesis testing. The participants involved in this study are all full-time international Middle Eastern students (n=90), undertaking their programs of study at both the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels at higher education institutions/providers in the three major world leaders in international education.


Introduction
The purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to identify and assess the opportunities and challenges facing Middle Eastern international students attending undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study programs within business schools at tertiary educational institutions in the three top world leading countries in international education, namely, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In specific, the current study aims at exploring the following three issues. First, develop a better understanding of the cultural and social-emotional experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending American, British, and Australian universities and other higher education institutions in 2018, 2019, and early 2020. Secondly, find ways in which American, British, and Australian higher education providers can enhance their efforts in meeting the cultural and social-emotional needs of their international Middle Eastern students. Thirdly, discuss the academic and language experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending higher educational institutions in the above mentioned three Western countries.
To this end, this study is guided by a series of research questions, as opposed to hypothesis testing.
Case studies have been designed for this purpose, where data is collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The respondents in this study are all full-time Middle Eastern students (n=90), undertaking their respective programs of study at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at higher education institutions/providers in the above mentioned three major world leading countries in international education, training, and research. Some of these students have already finished their respective programs of study, as such, have graduated, while others are still pursuing their respective study programs.
The main purpose of undertaking the students' case studies is to analyze their individual and personal experiences, which in turn shape their respective educational transition pathways/journeys. A major dimension of the students' case studies relates to the analysis of their individual and personal experiences, which shape their respective educational journeys. To better understand students' challenges, their individual and personal experiences are then sketched through a four-state progressive cycle encompassing the following phases of initial algorithm/jumbled phase, experimental phase, transitional phase, and, finally, ending in stability and routinisation. As such, to better understand students' opportunities and challenges, their individual and personal experiences are stretched through a four-state progressive cycle encompassing the following phases: 1.
As such, each student's transitional pathway, encompassing his or her personal journey, is outlined through a four-phase cycle (Hellsten, 2007). This begins with their initial algorithmic/jumbled state, initially commencing with the feelings of excitement and high expectations but ending in a crisis state.
The student then moves into an experiential phase where continued cultural shock and possibly denial prevails; then gets into a transitional phase where the student will eventually undertake partial adaptations; to finally end with a new algorithmic state characterised by routinization, relative stability, settlement, and acceptance of the new prevailing situation.
Furthermore, to be fair to both the students and the respective tertiary educational institutions, the current study considers the impact of the students' geographical, cultural, and social-emotional aspects on influencing and determining their individual experiences. This includes the level of their self-confidence, ability to cope with the encountered challenges, as well as their degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their overseas study experiences.
On the international scene, in the past, the United States represented, and continues to the present time to represent, the largest country worldwide for the provision of international education, followed by the United Kingdom, while Australia is the third country for education export (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009). Prior to the Corona-2019 pandemic, international education was a commodity and a lucrative enterprise (Lin, 2012), and it has been growing in all of the above three mentioned countries to become a main service industry (Australian Council for Private Education and undergraduate, and postgraduate qualifications in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, undertook a series of semi-structured and in-depth interviews over a period of six months extending over 2019 and early 2020.

Socio-Cultural Learning Associated with Studying Abroad
As Gomes (2014) indicated, an international student's social life impacts their satisfaction level with their overseas study experiences. Similar research studies further indicate that the intention behind overseas studies relates to the need of the international student to advance their future career prospects, learn a new language, and possibly enjoy few years of personal independence (Urban & Palmer, 2016).
Nevertheless, upon intensive discussions with the international Middle Eastern student participants, it became clear that the decision of the great majority of them to study overseas was never intended as a total, or even partial, relinquishment of their respective cultures. As such, they had to match both cultures together, i.e., the Eastern culture prevailing in their home country and the Western culture of the host country they have moved to.
In addition, besides the language and learning difficulties, the majority of international students, including Middle Eastern students, face further cultural, social, lifestyle, and religious challenges. This includes, but is not limited to, gender issues, religious beliefs, and sexual values and patterns, that international students, in general, and Middle Eastern students, in particular, may find shocking and hard to overcome (Crockett & Hays, 2011;Newsome & Cooper, 2016).

Experiences of International Middle Eastern Students
International students, in general, may need to go through critical modifications for endurance purposes.
This is also true for Middle Eastern international students attending Western universities and colleges in the above mentioned three international education providing countries. This, for example, includes finding the right accommodation, adjusting to differences in social patterns, dealing with financial hardships, coping with stress, pressure, anxiety, depression, and, possibly, worthlessness and homesickness, in addition to the educational and language challenges (Urban & Palmer, 2016).
Even though certain difficulties may be due to the international student's own background and rearing, including their personal circumstances, the host educational institution may indeed assist with various students' issues and concerns. This could be accomplished via the formation of appropriate support structures that would smoothen and polish the student's social life (Urban & Palmer, 2016). As such, the host educational institution should develop a wide awareness and appreciation of their international Middle Eastern students' personal and professional goals and needs, as a means of better catering to them.

Method
To comprehensively understand the details presented during the series of intensive interviews relating to the experiences of the participants as international Middle Eastern students attending schools of business at universities and colleges in the three above Western countries, a qualitative method had to  (45) international Middle Eastern male students, and forty-five (45) international Middle Eastern female students. The purpose of the main research question at hand is three-fold. First, develop a better understanding of the cultural and social-emotional experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending American, British, and Australian universities and other higher education institutions in 2018, 2019, and early 2020. Secondly, find ways in which American, British, and Australian higher education providers can enhance their efforts in meeting the cultural and social-emotional needs of their international Saudi students. Thirdly, discuss the academic and language experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending Business schools at Western universities and other higher education institutions in America, Britain, and Australia.
To this end, the current study posed the following three open-ended and exploratory research questions: Question 1: How do international Middle Eastern students describe their adjustment to the overall Western culture?
Question 2: How do international Middle Eastern students describe their social interaction with people in America, England, and Australia, in general, and with their American, British, and Australian colleagues in the respective host country, in specific?
Question 3: How do international Middle Eastern students describe their adjustment to the use of English as the language of instruction?
The participants involved in this study were randomly selected from Western (American, British, and Australian) universities and higher education business programs providers to achieve the sample of ninety (90) international Middle Eastern students, whereby equal numbers (n=30) of international Middle Eastern students were randomly selected from the three Western countries in focus, and equal numbers of male (n=45) and female (n=45) students were interviewed. All the international participant students are from the Middle East, and all of them are enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate business study programs in various American, British, and American tertiary institutions.

Data Collection and Analysis
The qualitative case study methodology approach employed in the current study, with the use of semi-structured, in-depth, and informal interviews, provided the authors with the privilege of constructing a detailed investigation of the cultural and social experiences of the participating students.
The relevant data was collected using the students' own accounts, interpretations, and stories of the personal experiences they have encountered while attending schools of business at Western universities and other higher education providers. The participating international Middle Eastern students were interviewed at least twice over a period of four (4) months in 2018 through early 2020.

Evolving Relational Patterns
Below are details of the processes through which the researchers engaged in as part of the current study to work out their relationship with the international Middle Eastern student participants over the four months interviewing period as a means of gaining their trust, and augment the honesty, reliability, and dependability of the collected data. As part of this process, the three authors dissected their own prejudices, including their personal conventions and tightened their control over the possible impact that may occur given their predeterminations, race, age, and gender (Alshenqeeti, 2014).
The first author, who was at some stage an international doctoral student in both the United States, and, later on, in Australia, conducted the interviews. This was stated to the participants at the start of the initial meeting. The authors agreed to the fact that knowing that the interviewer was at an earlier stage in life an international student herself would trigger participants to be honest about their experiences and accompanying feelings, especially that the interviews were informally held, in a stress-free and confident atmosphere, where the questions were open ended and semi-structured, thus, inspiring the international Middle Eastern student participants to talk freely, provide reliable and precise recounts about their circumstances, and truly share their stories and self-confidences (Sutton & Austin, 2015).
The importance of appropriate presentation and speech cannot be stressed enough during the interviewing process, being foremost factors relating to the authenticity of the gathered data (Alshenqeeti, 2014).

Results and Discussion
The current research maps the study journeys of the international Middle Eastern student participants attending schools of business at American, British, and Australian universities and higher education institutions from the commencement of their respective educational journeys abroad, until the time this study was undertaken. The consequential findings have been categorized into three (3) main themes, as follows: 1.
Theme 1: Cultural and family issues, negative propaganda concerns, adverse role of the distorted and controlled media.
Theme 1 involved issues related to international Middle Eastern students' cultural interpretations and on-going dealings with the American, British, and Australian culture.

2.
Theme 2: Social interactions, prejudice and discrimination concerns, and relationships issues Theme 2 involved issues related to international Middle Eastern students' social interactions, issues of prejudice and discrimination, and relationships developed with their American, British, and Australian people, and host country student colleagues.

Theme 3: Language Adjustment Issues
Theme 3 involved issues related to international Middle Eastern students' problems and adjustments made to the use of English as the language of instruction. Just like other international students, and as per the observations made by the great majority of the interviewed international Middle Eastern participants, the Middle Eastern students arrived at the above mentioned three Western countries with enormous excitement and high initial expectations, nevertheless, the honeymoon period experienced was brief and mere transient in both nature and duration. Shortly after, it was followed by a period that is best categorized as deep in bewilderment, distancing, hostility, loneliness, bitterness, antipathy, and foreignness; leading to a state of total and complete bewilderment and confusion, as the individual Middle Eastern student transited from a rather relatively ordered and well-organized algorithmic state in their respective home country surrounding environment, straight into a crisis situation experienced in the host country where they are living and studying (Helou, 2018).
As stated by the interviewed international Middle Eastern student participants, a shared concern is dealing with the financial drain relating to covering accommodation costs, tuition fees, other educational expenses, and daily living expenses, even though, unlike other international students, the respective home country Middle Eastern and gulf country governments provide acceptable financial support to all its highly achieving overseas students wishing to further their studies at Western universities and other higher education institutions. The financial burden concern pointed out in this (Jawharah).
Throughout the first stage, it is evident from the international Middle Eastern student participants' disclosure that students have gone through a rough and uneasy phase, characterised by discomfort, nervousness, and anxiety about their present new situation, leading them to a crisis state. Out of the 90 international Middle Eastern participants engaged in the current study, twenty-one (21) students decided to drop out of their respective study programs and go back to their home countries. They found out that the adjustments, considered by them more as needed sacrifices, were intensive to the point that the students decided that it was not worthwhile the effort.
The rest of the sixty-nine (69) students reported going through an experimental phase, where disavowal characterized a main part of the faced experiences. These students have endured the hardships faced, continued to stay in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, and continued with their respective programs of study. Nineteen (19) students disclosed that, as part of their transitional phase, they had to make fractional modifications to be able to stay in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, and continue with their respective business study program offered within the same educational institution that they had originally enrolled in. This meant that they accepted to undergo what they considered to be feelings of discernment, solitude, parting, melancholy, and reminiscence; and, while living in the above three Western countries, limit their socio-emotional outlooks to a bare minimum, as a subsistence mechanism.
During the final phase of routinization and relative stability, it is evident that twenty-one (21) out of the remaining fifty (50) students were able to develop a sturdier sense of self-identity, which assisted them in engaging with the difficult circumstances that they were facing more proficiently and effectively.
They have learnt to trust themselves in terms of coping with their new circumstances, as such, attempt to acceptably resolve, or, at least, neutralise, arising concerns and problems. Examples of such observations and comments of these twenty-one (21) international Middle Eastern students included the following:  Now, I have sufficient self-confidence to seek advice, and act on it (Fatimah).
 At this stage, I feel more confident to see things for what they truly are and try to resolve pertinent concerns myself (Nahed).
 I have learnt to depend on myself, as no one is going to help me otherwise (Layal).
 I now rely on myself to solve my own problems and try to go by day by day (Mariam).
 I have greatly lowered my expectations, as such, I am now more resilient to the difficulties I continue to encounter on a regular basis, at times, on a daily basis (Zainab).

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Living alone in a foreign country is not easy. One has to depend on themselves as I have learnt that no one is going to help me (Sahar).
The above mentioned twenty-one (21) international Middle Eastern students have reported making extreme sacrifices and extensive adjustments resulting in enhancing their understanding of their self-identity to be more independent and survive what the students have considered to be false, discriminatory and ingenuine marketing and advertising challenges faced (Newsome & Cooper, 2016;Newsome & Helou, 2018;Newsome, Helou & Crismon, 2019), and, as a result gain valuable experiences in private amelioration as they settled with a new algorithmic state.
In conclusion, the aim of the current research study is to develop an understanding, and find ways in which American, British, and Australian universities and other higher education providers, operating in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, can enhance their efforts in meeting the cultural and social-emotional needs of their international Middle Eastern students. To this end, this research study mapped the academic journey and associated experiences of ninety (90) international Middle Eastern students, from an initial stage, characterized by enthusiasm, eagerness, and considerable hopes and prospects, followed by a precipitous, sharp, and swift crisis phase, getting into an experimental stage, followed by a transitional phase, and, finally, settling in a new and more realistic algorithmic state, branded by relative routinisation and stability.
As per the international Middle Eastern students' disclosures, it is clear that Middle Eastern students, like the rest of the international student body, are interested in having more socially reminiscent interactions and evocative involvements and experiences during their period of study in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. This confirms with earlier research undertaken in this domain (Newsome & Cooper, 2016;Newsome & Helou, 2018;Newsome, Helou & Crismon, 2019).
In light of this finding, it would be of significant help if Western universities and higher educational institutions further back up, enable, and smooth out such student interactions, while concurrently orienting international Middle Eastern students for the development of academic skills and engaging academic study. This, for example, includes organising more gatherings, sporting, and a variety of cultural events for them, as a means of further motivating students to undertake interesting social interactions and developing further cultural skills and experiences.