Voices beyond borders: the experiences and challenges of international students

With the growing number of international students in higher education institutions, understanding the experiences and challenges of these students is an essential step in facilitating their academic journey and enhancing the quality of global higher education. Drawing on qualitative interviews with five Iranian graduate students at Simon Fraser University (SFU), I found that although studying at SFU was a generally positive experience for these students, they faced significant challenges in several areas. These included relationships with supervisors, different educational systems, financial problems, housing, finding jobs on campus, language barriers, health and counseling, and emotional/social adjustment. Additionally, participants reported problems accessing academic and non-academic information. Visa and immigration challenges were also highlighted as significant concerns of Iranian students. The students shared their strategies to overcome challenges and provided recommendations for the university to support them better. These insights are valuable for improving the experiences of current and future international students at SFU.