According to some reports, international students face some challenges after enrolling in a university. Some common challenges start from their home countries. The first challenge they face is searching for an ideal student accommodation. It is really very difficult to make a special program to visit their host country to search for accommodation. And, if they don’t book accommodation in advance, many times, accommodations according to their preferences are already filled.
Another challenge related to student housing faced by students is that they find accommodation at high prices in the nick of time. The major reason behind this is that the prices of accommodation increase as the university sessions come closer.
But, there is an easy solution to this problem. Today, online student accommodation service platforms like “University Living” are active, which provide listings of accommodations in different cities in the world on their websites and mobile apps. University Living’s website Universityliving.com is getting widely popular these days. In these listings, students can accommodations with their details.
First, a student has to visit the city’s page to get the listings in that city. For instance, to find student housing in London, one has to enter “London” in the search box. Some properties will come in front of them with their names, images, and the lowest prices.
One has to click a property’s name/image to reach its dedicated page where he/she can know about more prices, amenities, and distances from universities. On such websites, one can search for accommodation a few months ago.
Another challenge many students face is to manage their finances. Solving this challenge is not a difficult task. The first thing students have to do for this purpose is to make a budget. The budget can be prepared in two phases. First, one can make it in his/her home country. In the second phase, the budget can be revised after reaching the host country. Besides, one should rent student housing according to budget.
There are other ways also through which finances can be managed. One can get student discounts in his/her host country. Besides, students should also go to restaurants less and prepare meals in their student accommodations’ kitchens as far as possible. Students can also do part-time jobs in their host cities. Some agencies help students in finding jobs in their host cities. Besides, students can also get jobs like research assistants and more in their host cities.
One more challenge that international students may face is the health issue after reaching their host city due to change in weather. When students move to a distant country, they find different weather than their home country. Sometimes, facing those weather conditions may be difficult so students may face health issues.
The first thing students can do to solve this problem is to keep their clothes according to the current weather of the country/city where they are going. Besides, they should keep necessary medicines with them such as paracetamol, ointments, painkillers, etc. Furthermore, after reaching their host cities, they should visit medical practitioners for their health checkups.
Cultural shock is another common challenge faced by students. For this, students are just required to keep their patience and communicate with other students who are local to their host countries. International students can also read some basic things about the culture of host countries on the internet before starting their journey to their host countries. Besides, students who choose homestays as their accommodations can learn about their host countries’ culture easily as they live with a local family in their host cities and see their daily lives and lifestyles very closely.
Language barriers can be another challenge faced by many students. If the language of their host city is English but their native language is any other, then they face the problem of fluency which they find in students and teachers of their host city. But, it can be resolved easily through some practice and special classes. A challenge can be understanding accent, which can also be solved with the same things. If the native language of a student’s host city is something else, then this language is new to him/her, and universities and other institutes provide courses for that language.
