Valuing cultural diversity in student learning : the academic adjustment experiences of international Chinese students.

This investigation explores, from the students' perspective, the initial academic adjustment experiences of international business students from an ethnic Chinese cultural background at Victoria University (VU), Australia. This paper is report of a study in progress. A qualitative methodology, using principles of grounded theory, was used for the study. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted for data collection. The findings, so far, indicate that the key factors influencing the academic adjustment experiences of the students participating in the study were, apart from language issues, staff approaches to teaching, the nature of interactions between students and teaching staff, students' approaches to learning, and the nature of interactions between students and students.