The pandemic process of international university students

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak has caused serious threats to the physical and mental health of individuals, and has caused many psychological problems such as depression. During pandemic associated shutdown of universities and travel restrictions on going abroad, international students had to spend this process in a foreign country where they were educated, away from their families. In this study, emotional states (moods) and academic concerns of university students were examined. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the reflections and effects of social supports offered to students and distance education provided at universities on their quality of life using qualitative research method. 360 international students who participated in the study from 30 different countries considered the interruption of education during the Covid-19 process as an important decision. The findings of the study are as follows: The interruption of face-to-face instruction (in-person learning) affected them negatively (r = 0.197 **), the most important problem they encountered in distance education was “the language of instruction education (r = 0.247 **; r = 0.354 **) and this might pose problems in their future university life as well (r = -0.152 **). They also stated that negative feelings such as “fear”, “anxiety” and “helplessness” brought students from different religions, languages and races closer to each other. In conclusion, the significant importance of social supports/aids for international students and various teachings of global catastrophes were revealed in the study. In addition, as a result of value-oriented distance education during the epidemic, it was determined that students have gained various gains in both the education process and their lifestyles

Keywords

• Covid-19
• international student
• higher education
• psychology
• social equity

Uluslararası üniversite öğrencilerinin pandemi süreci

Öz

Covid-19 salgını bireylerin fiziksel ve ruhsal sağlığı için ciddi tehditlere neden olmuş depresyon gibi birçok psikolojik sorunlara da yol açmıştır. Salgın sırasında üniversitelerin eğitime ara vermesi ve yurtdışına çıkış yasağının getirilmesiyle birlikte uluslararası öğrenciler bu süreci ailelerinden uzakta eğitim gördükleri ülkede geçirmek zorunda kalmışlardır. Üniversite öğrencilerinin duygu durumları ile akademik endişelerinin ele alındığı bu çalışmada öğrencilere sunulan sosyal destekler ve üniversitelerde verilen uzaktan eğitimlerin yaşam kalitelerine yansımaları ve etkileri üzerinde durulmuş olup çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Bu bağlamda 30 farklı ülkeden çalışmaya katılan 360 uluslararası öğrenci Covid-19 sürecinde eğitime ara verilmesini önemli bir karar olarak değerlendirirken, aktif eğitime ara verilmesinin kendilerini olumsuz etkilediğini (r=0,197**), uzaktan eğitimde karşılaştıkları en önemli problemin “Eğitim aldıkları dil eğitimi” (r=0,247**; r=0,354**) olduğunu ve bu problemin gelecekteki eğitim hayatlarında sorun teşkil edebileceğini (r=-0,152**), “korku”, “endişe” ve “çaresizlik” gibi olumsuz duyguların farklı din, dil ve ırktan öğrencileri birbirlerine daha çok yakınlaştırdığını ifade etmişlerdir. Çalışmada uluslararası öğrencilere yapılan sosyal desteklerin ne denli önemli olduğu ve küresel felaketlerin çeşitli öğretilerden oluştuğu sonucuna varılmış olup uzaktan eğitim sürecinde verilen değer odaklı eğitimler öğrencilerin hem eğitim sürecine hem de yaşam biçimlerine çeşitli kazanımlar kattığı tespit edilmiştir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Covid-19
• uluslararası öğrenci
• yükseköğrenim
• psikoloji
• sosyal eşitlik

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