Uprooting — The Psychosocial Problems of the International Student

Abstract

International students enroll in the universities and colleges of the world in ever-increasing numbers and it is here in Europe that the history of care for these specially “uprooted” individuals — migrants in the cause of higher education — was actually started. In the thirteenth century a special college was founded for students from the diocese of Avignon who wanted to study in Bologna and in the fourteenth century 24 Spanish students had two special chaplains appointed for their care because of the difficulties these expatriates were experiencing. Thus, historically “international student care” started in Europe 700 years ago. Since then the pattern of migration and the need for special care has escalated until today there are, for example, over 150000 international students in the United Kingdom, 350000 in the United States and in western Europe over a million students enrolled for higher education whose homes are originally “abroad” [1].