Informal foreign student advising at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse : a test of the association hypothesis

Abstract

A network of informal foreign student advising on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus was described, using questionnaire responses. The 27 responding foreign students selected helpful, understanding and empathic faculty and staff members. Faculty whose role assignment included foreign student advising were selected with disproportionate frequency, and choices were not influenced by academic major. The students also disproportionately selected faculty and staff who had expressed an interest in international education, but selection was unrelated to prior educational experience abroad on the part of the faculty and staff. Furthermore, empathy ratings were unrelated to prior experience abroad or to expressed interest in international education. The foreign students at La Crosse match the national norm only on sex distribution, and roughly approximate it on year in school. There is no match for academic major or country of origin. No support for the U-curve adjustment hypothesis was found. These foreign students report a slightly elevated adjustment level relative to their satisfaction with help received and their perception of the general level of understanding toward foreign students at La Crosse. This may be attributable to their own efforts toward problem resolution and to cooperation with their peer group.