Bridging the gap between schools and universities

• strategies and tools to develop your school’s university guidance and future pathway counselling programmes to support international student transitions
• practical skills to support unique student needs as they prepare for post-secondary pathways, including students with additional needs
• approaches to helping students prepare for everyday challenges during their secondary-school-to-higher education transition, like building connections and community before and during their time at university and navigating the cultural transitions they may encounter
• ways to help students leverage their digital knowledge and skills to improve their overall transition experience
• how to use the CIS Transitions-care Model—a member-only resource coming soon—to better prepare students for university transitions across borders and cultures  

• strategies for leveraging your student services and support teams in your marketing and recruitment strategies
• the key role that recruitment and admissions representatives play in bridging the gap between secondary and higher education for students
• specific needs of international, transnational, and repatriating students and what this means for your recruitment and admission strategies
• strategies and tools for responding to international students with complex needs that emerge
• approaches to promoting digital transition skills to better support students during their transition to your university
• practical steps to foster community and belonging among their international students
• gain knowledge and skills based on the new CIS Transitions-care Model and how it can be used as a tool to understand and consider international students with complex needs that come to light during their recruitment and admission activities

• about the unique support needs of international, transnational and repatriating students and how to strengthen their well-being and sense of belonging
• strategies and tools to develop your institution’s international student support programming
• knowledge and skills related to supporting international students with additional needs as they are recruited and arrive on campus
• practical steps to foster community and belonging among their international students
• gain knowledge and skills based on the new CIS Transitions-care Model and how it can be used as a tool to develop their institution’s international student support programming  
• about international students’ digital transitions and how you can leverage them to improve students’ experiences
• strategies for strengthening the connection between your institution’s recruitment and student support strategies

We regularly talk with our members in universities and schools worldwide and hear many common questions as they initiate, implement, and develop their student support programmes. This workshop is designed to address questions like the following:

How can schools and universities:

• help prepare students for the new social and cultural contexts and norms that they will encounter at university
• support the unique needs of international students (repatriating and third culture kids) in their transition to university?
• best support students with mental health needs and learning differences in their transition to university
• better support students with digital transitions in their post-secondary pathway
• effectively build and measure transitions-care programmes, what practical strategies and tools can we use?

How can recruitment and student services work better together to support international students arriving on campus?

What do student services and admissions reps at universities think schools should be doing differently, or more of, to better prepare international students for university?

How can universities build on the schools’ transitions-care programming and skill development to ensure a smoother transition for students?

Where do the school and university responsibilities start and finish when it comes to transitions-care?

What do counsellors think universities should do differently, or more of, to better support international students arriving on campus?

• Schools, parents, and universities agree that there needs to be more support/preparation with managing different cultural norms for international students as they transition to university (CIS 2023). This includes providing students with a better understanding of their identity (race, gender, sexuality) in their new context as well as understanding and recognizing the transition needs of repatriating and “third culture kid” (TCK) students.
   
• CIS Universities found that there is a gap in understanding the unique needs of international students vs. domestic students on their campuses, and that international student transition is not broadly understood by the larger university community.
   
• Evidence further suggests that different types of international students may have very different transitions-care needs (Mahoney and Barron, 2020). Repatriating students are those who attend university in their passport country but have not lived in that country for long or at all. These students are often not included in universities’ definitions of “international student”, which means that they are not able to benefit from some international student orientation or support services. We know that repatriating students sometimes face additional challenges and would benefit greatly from being included in universities’ international student support plans (Quick, 2010; Pollock & Van Reken, 2009, Gaw 1995).
   
• One study suggests that a significant percentage of TCKs do not persist to graduation (at university), and those who do often end up transferring institutions three to four times during their undergraduate education, a factor that is known to lead to decreased engagement and retention risk (Smith and Kearney, 2017).
   
• Recent/emerging studies (Cheruiyot Bii 2011; Elsheikh 2020; Long 2016; Tanu 2008) have highlighted that the traditional definition of TCK’s does not encompass a wider variety of international students’ experiences and identities. Tanu’s research in particular advocates for a better integration of the study of experiences of domestic students who attend transnational education spaces, exploring the "extent to which TCK identification is a project of growing up overseas or a specific educational experience" (Tanu 2008)
   
• This is important given the demographic change in international schools where many students are raised in their home culture but educated in a western-curriculum international school (Cheruiyot Bii, 2011; Elsheikh, 2020; Long, 2016; Tanu, 2008; Tanu, 2020)

• When not managed well, transitions to higher education can be significant stressors for students’ mental health; they can undermine protective relationships and lead to feelings of rootlessness, difficulties in forming identity and unresolved grief (Ota, 2022; Schaetti, 1996; Silverman et al, 1997).
   
• In a study of the first-year experience, well-being was the most common reason that both international and domestic students gave for seriously considering deferring or withdrawing from university (Baik et al., 2015 in Marangell & Baik 2022).
   
• International students are often unaware of the available mental health services provided on campus, leading to an underuse of counselling centres (Hyun et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2014).

• Our CIS research revealed a significant difference of opinion between schools, parents, and universities in relation to international students’ transition needs, a lack of understanding from some universities about the diversity of needs amongst international students, and a missed opportunity for dialogue between schools and student services representatives in universities (CIS, 2023). The gap can mean that schools cannot take account of universities’ perspectives when deciding how to prepare students for university, and universities cannot take account of school perspectives (informed by alumni experiences) when deciding how to support international students on campus.
   
• According to 2023 discussions during a CIS school-to-university dialogue and survey, there’s a gap in the understanding of support services available to students. CIS universities find that even where they have sufficient support services, students are often unaware of or don’t engage with them. This is corroborated by Hyun et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2014 who found that international students are often unaware of the available mental health services provided on campus, thus leading to an underutilization of counseling centers.

Although 90% of CIS schools offer some form of transitions-care for graduating students, according to feedback from students and parents, CIS schools tend to do very well on academic skill development and helping students search for and apply for university but less well on factors beyond academics. These other factors include social, emotional and life skill development, building connections pre-departure, preparing for cultural adjustments and practical challenges, and normalising help-seeking behaviour.