University of Applied Sciences, Fulda

Part Two 91
Eastern Europe 93
Bulgaria 93
Part One 93
Part Two 95
Lithuania 97
Part One 97
Part Two 100
Romania 101
Part One 101
Part Two 103
Poland 105
Part one 105
Part Two 106
Costa Rica 108
Part One 108
Part Two 110
Canada and USA 112
Part One 112
Part Two 114
Russia 117
Part One 117
Part Two 120
Turkmenistan 122
Part One 122
Part Two 123
The Philippines 124
Part One 124
Part Two 125
China 127
Part One 127
Part Two 128
Uganda 129
Part One 129
Part Two 130
Chapter 5 132
Conclusions and Suggestions 132
Recommendations 138
Bibliography 141
Electronic Sources 143
APPENDIX 1: The Questionnaire 145
APPENDIX 2: The Interview Questions 148

Abstract

Crossing borders and familiarising oneself with other cultures and languages have become inseperable aspects of the individual internationalisation process in education. On the institutional level, the desinging and offering of inercultural and intenational MA programmes is rapidly gaining momentum in many countries. However, there is a rather unanticipated and unprepared for component to these“melting pot“ programmes: student sojourners must deal with“ culture shock“, not only in thier everyday lives in the host society, but also in the academic environment, as the educational systems, pedagogic methods and evaluative measures of the same are deeply rooted in the societal norms and values of their communities. Analysing this’culture shock’ in the educational setting can pave the way for future imporvement in the construction of the syllabi and preparatory programs offered to these international students. Using qualitative data analysis , this case study of a particular German programme provides an encapsulated look at this phenomenon, and offers some tentative suggestions for offsetting and overcoming this problem.