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This study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model capturing the factors impacting students' cross-cultural adaptation and the outcomes resulting from such adaption. Data were obtained from a sample of international postgraduate students from six Malaysian public universities using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling using SmartPLS was utilised to analyse the data. The results indicate that amongst the antecedent variables (i.e. the individual and situational factors); only two relationships are not significantly supported; (a) media usage to psychological adaptation; and (b) attachment attitude to sociocultural adaptation. All the other relationships in the proposed model are significantly supported. The findings of the study further support significant and positive influence of psychological and sociocultural adaptations of international postgraduate students on their perceived psychological well-being and perceived academic satisfaction and ultimately on positive word of mouth in recommending the host country's educational institutions to others. The findings of this study provide insights into the Malaysian higher education policymakers especially those associated with expanding market potential as well as university administrators to manage the changes and accommodate the needs of international students in order to retain and attract more international students. This paper also elaborates the theoretical, empirical, practical and managerial implications of the findings of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proposed framework to measure international students' satisfaction on their learning and living in Malaysia was developed based on literature reviews on international students (Chong, 2015). The proposed framework has five domains in measuring factors influencing international students' satisfaction, namely, academic internal environment, non-academic internal environment, external environment, image and perceived value. Each of these five domains has their own contributing variables or factors. This verification process is needed because the literature reviewed is limited in the context of Malaysia. Hence, an empirical study was conducted to verify the proposed framework by interviewing 20 international students from 14 nationalities at 11 private universities located in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The transcribed scripts and notes taken during the interview were analysed. Based on the data collected from the interviews, two objectives of the research were met. Firstly, it has verified and confirmed factors in measuring international students' satisfaction. Secondly, new variables were suggested by interviewees. The outcome of the research has contributed towards improvement of the proposed framework, thereby making it a more comprehensive model. This study and the proposed framework are useful to both the government and institutions of higher learning to improve their services. This will in turn help Malaysia to achieve its aspiration of becoming an international education hub. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase in international mobility in higher education especially in Asia, the issue of cross-cultural adaptation becomes paramount since international students try to overcome challenges and flourish psychologically and socioculturally in a new environment. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the factors influencing international postgraduate students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptations in Malaysian public universities, an emerging education hub in the region. It also further examined importance-performance matrix analysis (IPMA) of the antecedents for psychological and sociocultural adaptations as the endogenous variables to provide managerial insights for the authorities in higher education. A quantitative research approach using questionnaire was applied to get response from randomly selected international postgraduate students (i.e. Master or PhD) from top five research universities in Malaysia. The findings revealed that among the identified factors in this study perceived stereotype image and adjustment attitude were significantly related to psychological and sociocultural adaptations of the international students in Malaysia. However, attachment attitude was not significantly associated with psychological and sociocultural adaptation; and English language proficiency was not related to psychological adaptation. Moreover, the results of IPMA in SmartPLS shed some light on perceived stereotype image and adjustment attitude as the factors with the highest priority with relatively lowest performance in relation with psychological and sociocultural adaptations. Based on the results, this study derives recommendations for education policymakers and academic administrators to ensure successful international postgraduate students’ cross-cultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]