Full paper Enhancing International Student Learning

In this paper, the authors consider issues that affect international students in New Zealand tertiary institutes. Education is no longer confined to the boundaries of a country. Educational institutes have to cater to the needs of multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-national communities. International student numbers have drastically reduced over the past few years. This has led to government level initiatives at the strategic level that consider International students in general. However, this paper identifies issues and makes suggestions for enhancing the international student learning environment at a computing and IT school in New Zealand. A review of international student numbers at the School of Computing and IT over the past three years has revealed a downward trend. Initiatives for improving the student numbers at the school have been considered in this study. The authors propose four initiatives based on the available literature and personal experiences with international students. These initiatives are discussed under the headings: new focus for teachers, global education and the local student, multicultural awareness and improved communication. The application of these could also find use by other similar schools of learning