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JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
University-Based Social Work Intervention with International Students: Using a Multicultural Approach
• Have a knowledge addressing culture of target groups; be acceptable and sensitive to
cultural differences; act in such a way that he/she consider the target’s culture while
offering services.
• Strive to understand the nature of social differences and oppression mechanisms ba-
sed on the differences stemming from race, color, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status,
political view, religion and beliefs, sexual orientation, mental or physical disabilities;
and attend training programmes and maintain personal development on such issues
(Özgür, 2009).
Social workers should also benefit from “culturagram” developed by Congress (1994,
2000, 2004; akt.: Özgür, 2009); they should find out the reasons laying behind the arrival
of international students with educational purposes; their legal status, their social life,
their language spoken at home and that in society, their health beliefs, their crisis expe-
riences, their holidays and other special days, their relations with cultural and religious
institutions, their values regarding education and working life, their family structure and
their views on power, myths and rules; and they should develop appropriate practices
accordingly.
Discussion
International students face many problems that could be attributed to many reasons. The
cultural difference is one of the most important problems that face most international
students in the similar ways. It is the first of the problems they face in the first stage in the
host countries. But the failure to overcome the problem lead them to cultural stress and
cultural shock, and this affects the well-being of student and may lead to psychological
and social problems and therefore to academic failure. Here lies the importance of the
existence of the unity of social services in all the universities to address the problems of
international students and help them to overcome cultural problems and to be in harmony
with the new culture and achieve academic success. Social work has an important role in
this area through the intervention to resolve the problems faced by international students
on many levels in collaboration with several institutions and ministries. In this intervention
social work many use various approaches. One of the most important approach is “multi-
culturalism”. Making international students be in harmony with the host country’s culture
helps them to achieve academic success and motivates them to participate in social life
in the new society. Therefore, host country should make appropriate policies, and provi-
de these students with psychological and social services that contribute to facilitate the
harmony of international students in the new cultural environment.
Acknowledgement
I would like to gratefully and sincerely thank Dr. Michael Thomas for his language cont-
ribution.
