Abstract

Many international students fail to establish satisfactory relationships with homestudents or local people when they come to study in the United Kingdom. This studyaimed to help them overcome isolation and concurrently diagnose what their principalareas of difficulty were. To this purpose, cross-cultural partnerships were formedand the international students were given six existential tasks to carry out with homestudents or local people. Their written and oral feedback about these activities weresubject to analysis using NUD*IST software and produced 15 categories, of which themost important were food, cultural identity, gender role, and friendship. Their attitudesupon entry to and exit from the scheme were also assessed, and despite somenegativity, the project resulted in the formation of some durable friendships andincreased enjoyment of cross-cultural interaction on the part of the internationals, aswell a greater confidence in their ability to engage in it successfully.