Identifying characteristics that lead to better academic performance for international students in U.S. colleges

A large proportion of students in the United States is international students. Thus, educational leaders need to facilitate the learning process for this population. This study investigated the characteristics of international students that affect their academic performance. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual characteristics of international students affect the learning strategies they choose and how it affects their academic performance. For this purpose, the survey was designed according to the literature, which measures characteristic variables based on VIA character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), learning strategies (MSLQ) developed by Pintrich et al. (1991), and academic performance of international students in the United States. It was hypothesized that a stronger character correlates with learning strategies and academic performance. The findings revealed a positive correlation between each of the character strengths variables (love of learning, social intelligence, self-regulation, and perseverance) and the learning strategies. Also, each of the character strengths variables correlated positively with academic performance. The multiple regression analysis revealed that character strengths and learning strategies could predict academic performance, but demographic characteristics could not predict academic performance