An empirical investigation on the cultivation and management of international postgraduates at five universities located in Wuhan, China

Abstract

International students’ mobility is increasing day by day around the world. As a result, many international postgraduate students enroll in Chinese universities for higher studies and exchange programs every year. The more international postgraduate students enrolled, the more challenges and problems encountered by local universities. This paper uses the questionnaire survey and interview method to explore the problems in cultivating and managing international postgraduates at Chinese universities in Wuhan, China. The study aims to identify the cultivation and management problems and present the corresponding countermeasures through the questionnaire analysis of 553 international postgraduates from the five universities. The study finds the four main problems in the cultivation and management of international postgraduates at local universities are (1) limited English resources and fewer faculty who deliver a lecture in English, (2) insufficient student-supervisor interaction, (3) lack of academic guidance on campus, and (4) inadequate campus facilities. In order to overcome these challenges, universities have to build a sound curriculum system and enhance the internationalization of teachers, increase the academic and social interaction among students and supervisors, arrange seminars and workshops and strengthen the development of language environment products, including four information platforms. The study has implications for the policymakers, professors, and university administrators to cultivate and manage international postgraduates. This research can also be regarded as a reference for the cultivation and education of international postgraduates in other countries.