Cultural Sensitivities:
needs and expectations
Emma Fleet (LSHTM)
Alison Barty (SOAS)
Outline
• Culture ‘shock’ and the ‘W’-curve
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs applied to students
and accommodation
• What do students say about accommodation?
• Case examples and group discussion
• Questions
The W-curve
Source: Journal of College and University Student Housing, Volume 23, No. 2, 1993.
Culture Shock and The First-Year Experience by William J Zeller and Robert Mosier
The W-curve
Stage 1: Honeymoon
• Starts pre-arrival
• Positive anticipation
• Initial sense of freedom
• Efforts from institution to welcome new
students
The W-curve
Stage 1: Honeymoon
“I can’t wait to start the course. I’ve been
wanting to do it for years and finally it’s
happening. It’s like a dream come true.”
(email from new student pre-arrival)
The W-curve
Stage 2: Culture Shock
• Novelty wears off
• Process of adaptation to new routines and
structures begins
• Frustration and unfamiliarity
• Idealisation of “back home” and
homesickness
The W-curve
Stage 2: Culture Shock
Case example:
Jennifer, a postgraduate student from Canada, was
having great difficulty settling in. London was nothing
like the fabulous place she had imagined, and she felt
intense frustration and anger at having to wait for her
internet connection to be set up. Despite coming
from a large city, she felt afraid of walking home from
the bus after lectures. She began to wonder if she
had made a major mistake, spending her substantial
savings on a Master’s in the UK.
The W-curve
Stage 3: Initial Adjustment
• Culture shock is less acute
• Increased familiarity with environment
• Routines established
• Sense of optimism is restored
• Still a sense of novelty
The W-curve
Stage 3: Initial Adjustment
Quite soon, Jennifer began to see that London was
“not so bad”. She felt much safer walking home and
began to spend more time in her neighbourhood,
enjoying what it had to offer. She made a trip to IKEA
and her flat started to settle in to her accommodation.
The W-curve
Stage 4: Mental Isolation
• Limbo between old and new homes
• Homesickness resurfaces
• Pressure of studies increases sense of
anxiety
• Questions about the future may start to
arise
The W-curve
Stage 4: Mental Isolation
Having adjusted reasonably well in the first term,
Joseph, a student from Kenya, was horrified when he
did not get a good mark at the end of term progress test.
He shut himself away in his room, seldom coming out.
Although he had initially made regular contact with his
family back home, he complained that they were “too
far away to make any difference”. He felt invaded by
offers of support from fellow students, saying that they
did not know him properly and could not help him.
The W-curve
Stage 5: Acceptance and Integration
• Integration of positive / negative aspects
• Deeper connections develop to people
and place
• Starts to feel truly like “home”
The W-curve
Stage 5: Acceptance and
Integration
Fatima, a PhD student from Yemen, struggled to
adjust to living in a Western culture. She was
deeply homesick and was isolated from her peers
with whom she felt no connection. She had brought
with her a national costume from her home country
and would take it out of her wardrobe every night
and would cry. A year or so later, I saw her again
and was struck that she was covering less of herself
and wearing more Western clothes. She also told
me how she now loved to invite fellow students to
her house to cook for them.
What do students say?
“I didn't get information on accommodation as regards what to bring with
me. I brought a duvet but they had them and I didn't know” HEIST 1994
“I think the best way is to stay in a hall of residence, but sometimes in
halls the whole floor is full of Malaysians so we don't mix. I had the
opportunity to come here and I want to learn more than just study.”
HEIST 1994
“ I didn't want a hall because it is impossible to study because it’s
noisy/rowdy….” HEIST 1994
The HEIST survey (1994) found that safety, price, warmth, not having to
move out in the vacation, privacy and access to an international
telephone were the six most important factors for accommodation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
What do students say?
• “Accommodation is a crucial part of a student’s life – especially a
foreign one – and if anything goes pear shaped, the student can feel
very isolated”
Student comment from Broadening Our Horizons, UKCISA 2004
• “The most common problems cited were difficulties with others in
their accommodation, having to move out during vacations and
having an inflexible contract”
Survey findings from Broadening Our Horizons, UKCISA 2004
• “Accommodation featured highest on the list of concerns before
arrival”
Survey findings from Broadening Our Horizons, UKCISA 2004
What do students say?
• “This year I am lucky enough to be staying with a family
friend. Last year I lived in (university accommodation),
and couldn't help feeling that it was a profit run
organisation who did not have student's interests at
heart or indeed much understanding of the problems
facing students, let alone 1st year students in London.
Over-priced, slow service as landlord for replacing items
e.g. sinks, unsafe equipment provided, and ridiculous
fines issued for "offences" they have no proof are the
fault of the tenant”
Student comment from on-line survey (ISB – London
institution)
Case examples and discussion
• What cultural misunderstandings might be contributing to
this situation?
• Whose cultural misunderstandings?
• How might this relate to the ‘W’ curve and/or Maslow’s
‘hierarchy’
• What is the responsibility if any of the accommodation
provider in these circumstances?
• How might this be constructively resolved and by whom?
• Consider your own experiences dealing with such
examples or being in the student’s position
Case study 1
Tomiko, a postgraduate student from Japan, lived in a
cluster flat in accommodation. One of her flatmates
was an undergraduate who would play loud music and
have friends over late into the night, keeping Tomiko
and others awake. She complained to the hall but
they did nothing about it. Her living situation had a
severe impact on her state of mind and studies.
Case study 2
You are planning a social event and
the question arises about whether it
should be alcohol free as numbers of
international students do not drink
alcohol
Case study 3
A University welfare adviser calls to say that
they are concerned about a postgraduate
student they know is resident in the hall.
Fellow students have reported that the
student has not been attending and not
returning phone calls or texts for 2 weeks.
If the contact was from a parent?
Case study 4
A student comes to you to say they want to
move out as they find their flatmates rude
and insensitive.
In particular they say flatmates have been
using their kitchen utensils which causes
problems as the student observes a
Kosher diet
Case study 5
A group of students approach you to ask if
they can use the common room for Friday
prayers
Case study 6
Your front line staff are overheard
commenting on the rudeness of
international students who do not say
please or thank you and won’t make eye
contact
Further training
UKCISA:
• Introduction to cultural awareness & sensitivity
• Building cross-cultural competence: intermediate
www.ukcisa.org.uk/training/
Thinking People:
• Building cross-cultural understanding for
accommodation and housing staff
12 November 2008, Birmingham
www.thinking-people.co.uk/