As a regional hub for education, Hong Kong has seen a growing population of international students. In contrast to existing conceptual models in acculturation literature that are often devoted to studying long-term settlers such as migrants or refugees in English-speaking countries (Smith & Khawaja, 2011), this study develops and tests a fine-grained model for degree-seeking mobile students. A mix-method was employed: a large scale survey (n = 619) across six Hong Kong universities and focus group interviews (n = 31). Bilingual competences were found to play important roles to predict socio-cultural adaptation together with academic efficacy, social support, contacts with locals and psychological adaptation. This study offered practical and managerial insights for educational policymakers, university senior management and administrations, academicians and research communities on how to manage the changes and accommodate the needs of international students so that we can attract a culturally diverse body of students. This research is significant because it extends the literature by examining socio-cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions in an increasingly globalized context. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.

Internationalisation has been actively pursued by Hong Kong's universities. Recent years have witnessed quantitative growth in non-local students. To ensure a qualitative success of internationalisation, it is crucial that universities cater for students with diverse academic backgrounds. This research explored challenges to academic adaptation. Focus group interviews were conducted with 124 local, mainland Chinese and international students at four Hong Kong universities. Findings revealed variation in academic adaptation challenges. First, adaptation to an English-medium-of-instruction was a concern for local and mainland Chinese students, while international students noted that limited English proficiency among other students undermined classroom discussions and led to tensions in group projects. Second, local students faced challenges in adapting to a wider range of assessment modes and academic writing, while mainland Chinese and international students reported how teacher-student relations and teaching approaches differed from prior educational experiences. Implications for the delivery of higher education amid internationalisation are discussed.
[Copyright © 2017 European Higher Education Society.]