RESEARCH NOTE CULTURAL ADAPTATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TERTIARY STUDENTS' INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

The new millennium encompasses an era of accelerating diversity and multicultural experience. Globalization, educational tourism, and international student growth has created the need for a greater understanding of the social and economic impacts of the tertiary education cross-cultural experience. The purpose of this article is to enhance this understanding, utilizing the social learning theory framework to compare local and international university students' international education experience with respect to cultural adaptation. The results show that cultural adaptation formed part of the multicultural experience for both student groups, although a key finding was that international students were subject to a greater degree of culture shock. These finding concur with previous academic literature and government reports that have discussed the issue.