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European Education

ISSN 1056-4934 (Print) 1944-7086 (Online) Journal homepage httpwwwtandfonlinecomloimeue20

Fears and Difficulties Experienced by UkrainianNationals During Their Period of Study in Poland

Sławomir Rębisz amp Paweł Grygiel

To cite this article Sławomir Rębisz amp Paweł Grygiel (2017) Fears and Difficulties Experiencedby Ukrainian Nationals During Their Period of Study in Poland European Education DOI1010801056493420171364134

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European Education 0 1ndash17 2017 Copyright Taylor amp Francis Group LLC ISSN 1056-4934 print1944-7086 online DOI 1010801056493420171364134

Fears and Difficulties Experienced by Ukrainian Nationals During Their Period of Study in Poland

Sławomir Rębisz

University of Rzeszow

Paweł Grygiel

Educational Research Institute in Warsaw

The overall aim of this study is to review problems relating to the acculturation of Ukrainian students during their initial period of study abroad in Poland More importantly our objective was to recognize the fears and difficulties these students experience and examine the strategies of coping with major stressors Based on group interviews we identified four themes which mainly related to the language barrier social isolation discrimination and financial issues Our results show that the main acculturation strategy among the students in our sample was integration rather than assimilation marginalization or separation Our respondents actively sought contacts with the locals for example by giving up their living quarters in the socially isolated and remote university campus and renting shared accommodation in the city which made it possible for them to maintain closer links with their Ukrainian friends and to receive social support while also staying open to establishing relationships with Poles and having more opportunities to improve their Polish At the same time these students maintained their contacts with family and friends abroad through the Internet This study also suggests the ways for higher education institutions to improve the services rendered to international students and to support their integration into a new community

INTRODUCTION

The educational migration of students which has been growing dynamically since the mid 1970s is one of the characteristic phenomena of the globalization process (Twombly Salisbury Tumanut amp Klute 2012) During this time the number of young people studying outside of their countries increased from 08 million in 1975 to 5 million in 2014 (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2014 pp 342ndash344) only to increase again accord-ing to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] forecast to 8 million by 2025 (Guumlruumlz 2011)

The process of educational migration has also affected Poland Whereas in the academic year 19901991 Poland hosted 4026 foreign students in 20142915 their number had increased more than 10-fold to a little more than 46000 students from 158 countries (Decade

none defined

Address correspondence to Sławomir Rębisz Faculty of Education University of Rzeszow ul Ks Jałowego 24 Rzeszoacutew 35-010 Poland E-mail rebiszunivpocztaonetpl

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of Internationalisation 2015) Since the 1990s Poland has become a study destination for stu-dents from across its eastern border especially from Ukraine Belarus and other countries of the former Soviet Union (Rębisz amp Sikora 2015) Moreover in recent years we have observed the ldquoUkrainizationrdquo of some Polish universities and of the whole educational system Since 2005 the number of Ukrainian students in Poland has increased fivefold In 20142015 there were 23330 Ukrainian students at the Polish universities meaning that every second foreign student in Poland came from Ukraine (Central Statistical Office 2015) In many universities students from Ukraine are the largest and most dominant national group among foreign students some-times even the only one (Decade of Internationalisation 2015)

On the one hand the fall of the Iron Curtain and the opening of the European borders had an impact on educational migration continually affecting the number of students coming to study in Central and Eastern Europe (Rębisz amp Sikora 2015) On the other hand educational migration is a new phenomenon in this part of Europe so any effective mechanisms to support the acculturation of foreign students are hard to come by This situation is clearly visible in Poland where the number of foreign students especially from Ukraine is growing year by year

The research presented in this article regards a particularly difficult example of an acculturation process in reference to Ukrainian students whose presence in Poland is charged with many prejudices and stereotypes that have accumulated throughout the history of these two neighbouring countries (Celinska 2015 Szeptycki 2016) particularly during World War II1 (Davies 2007 Hud 2013)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

It comes as no surprise that educational migration has been for many years a subject of sociological and economic investigation Research on educational migration demonstrates that studying abroad brings a number of advantages to students (Carlson amp Widaman 1988 University of Oxford International Strategy Office 2015) not only in terms of raising their linguistic competences (Cubillos amp Ilvento 2012 Williams 2005) and learning how to build interpersonal relations and social networks (Dewey Ring Gardner amp Belnap 2013) but also in expanding their intellectual competences broadly defined (Lee Therriault amp Linderholm 2012) Experiences gained abroad have a considerable impact on studentsrsquo later careers (Brandenburg Berghoff amp Taboadela 2014 pp 115ndash122)

It should be noted however that studying abroad may be associated with the appearance of various negative social personal or psychophysical phenomena among them the experience of culture shock (Chiu 1995 Weinmann 1983) or other acculturation problems which may translate to lower level educational achievement (Lu amp Zhou 2013 Rosenstreich amp Margalit 2015) low self-confidence and self-esteem feelings of alienation (Grygiel et al 2013 Gupta 2014) and consequently a deterioration of health (Cacioppo amp Patrick 2009 Doman amp Le

1The prejudice of some Poles against Ukrainians is affected by the historic events that took place in the summer of 1943 in Volyn (before World War II the Volyn Province belonged to Poland now to Ukraine) which resulted in 60000ndash70000 Poles mostly residents of local villages and towns being exterminated by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B (OUN-B) led by Stepan Bandera the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Ukrainian population residing in the area The horrors of this event sank deeply into the consciousness of Poles and strongly reinforced the negative Ukrainian stereotype (Piotrowski 2000)

2 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Roux 2012 Ryan amp Twibell 2000) The initial stages of studying are particularly exposed to acculturation problems resulting in lower overall satisfaction with life and a specific kind of satisfaction with studying (Bugay 2004)

Acculturation was originally (see Forbush amp Foucault-Welles 2016) defined by Redfield Linton and Herskovits (1936) as ldquothose phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groupsrdquo (p 149) Since the 1930s researchers have been proposing various conceptualizations of this phenomenon (see for discussion Berry Phinney Sam amp Vedder 2006) yet none of them is as established and well known as John Berryrsquos two-dimensional model of acculturation (Maley Moeller amp Harvey 2015 Ward amp Kus 2012)

Berry (2005) defines acculturation as ldquothe dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual membersrdquo (p 698) Berry assumes that every immigrant has to face two basic problems First is whether and to what extent the immigrantrsquos own culture is valuable and therefore should be pre-served Second how useful is this contact with a foreign culture Should it be explored or avoided The model is therefore based on the distinction of two preferences (a) a relative pref-erence for maintaining onersquos heritage culture and identity and (b) a relative preference for being in contact with and participating in the larger society along with other ethno-cultural groups (Ward amp Kus 2012)

Combinations of responses to these two dimensions yield the following four acculturation orientations integration assimilation separation and marginalization (Maley et al 2015) The first strategy reflects a desire to maintain key features of the immigrant cultural identity while adopting aspects of the host majority culture The second has to do with the rejection of onersquos own social and cultural identity in favour of the culture of the host country The third on the other hand is linked to an adherence to onersquos own cultural identity and rejection of any relations with the representatives of the foreign culture Finally marginalization is based on an approach whereby both onersquos own and the host countryrsquos cultures are rejected (Bourhis Moise Perreault amp Senecal 1997)

Importantly the course of acculturation (choice of orientation in the adaptation process) is also linked with the response to the problems appearing in contact with another culture In the acculturation model these difficulties are termed as acculturative stressors (Berry 2006 Maley et al 2015) In this context acculturation can be perceived not so much as linear but as a dialectic cyclic and continual process (Forbush amp Foucault-Welles 2016) Based on a review of literature on the situation of foreign students Smith and Khawaja (2011) distinguished five primary acculturation-related stressors language barriers educational diffi-culties sociocultural stressors related to personal networks discrimination and other practical problems

The overall aim of this study is to review problems relating to the acculturation of Ukrainian students during their initial period of study abroad in Poland More importantly it was our objective to recognize the fears and difficulties these students experienced and the strategies of coping with major stressors they developed This we hoped might provide the basis for formulating practical recommendations for institutions organizing foreign studentsrsquo stays parti-cularly in the countries in which international students are a new and previously unknown challenge

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 3

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METHODS

In order to capture some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in relation to their decisions to study abroad and the difficulties they encountered in the initial period of study in Poland we conducted interviews using the group interview (GI) method (Gill Stewart Treasure amp Chadwick 2008 Willgerodt 2003) among the Ukrainian students from one of the universities situated in south eastern Poland close to the Ukrainian border A group as opposed to an individual interview allows for creating a feeling of safety particularly when the problems discussed are difficult Group interviews make it easier to express emotions and exchange views as they also stimulate group membersrsquo memories of situations they might have otherwise forgotten but that are relevant to the research theme (Kvale 1996) In our study we wanted to explore peoplersquos firsthand experiences and knowledge of the subject Discussion groups are also useful for exploring the basic concepts or elements that constitute new experi-ences or phenomena One of the interview questions was ldquoWhat was your greatest concern immediately before you came to study in Poland and what was your main difficulty in the initial period of study in this countryrdquo The group interviews were then analyzed using contenttheme analysis an analytical method widely used in qualitative research (Ryan amp Bernard 2003)

We recruited our respondents for the discussion groups providing them with the link to a Web-based qualifying questionnaire by e-mail sending one initial invitation in week 1 and two reminders sent to nonresponders in weeks 2 and 3 E-mail address lists of all currently enrolled Ukrainian students were requested from the registrarrsquos office at the surveyed higher education institution The universityrsquos International Student and Scholar Service Office sent the recruitment e-mails to Ukrainian students on its servers on behalf of the authors Altogether four group interview sessions were organized based on the prearranged interview scenarios Facilitated by qualified moderators these were held between May 15 and June 15 2014 The duration of each interview group was around 120 minutes The survey was given in Polish With group membersrsquo consent sessions were audio-recorded and later transcribed A research assistant was present to take down additional notes to ensure that all comments were recorded Altogether 40 students took part in the group interviews 28 women and 12 men all students of various bachelor of arts courses (year 1 2 3) As no significant differences were noticed between the responses of women and men no gender-based analyses were later carried out

RESULTS

According to acculturation theory and the previous research we identified four themes capturing the fears experienced by our respondents immediately before or at the very beginning of their stay in Poland These were associated with (a) the language barrier (b) a sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) the fear of having insufficient financial resources to finance their stay and studying in Poland

Fears and Difficulties Relating to the Language Barrier

The fear of insufficient competences in the language of the country in which one has chosen to study is natural to every foreign student (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 p 702) and our analysis

4 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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confirms its presence in this case Our respondents emphasized that before coming to Poland and at the beginning of their stay they feared that their Polish might not be sufficient to follow what was being said in lectures and classes and that this would interfere with their educational goals

I was afraid because I did not speak any Polish before coming to Poland My concern was that I would have problems with passing exams I was thinking how was I going to manage to learn the language in such a short time before the first exam session (Male GI 1)

I was only afraid because of the language At the beginning I only understood a little when I was spoken to but I couldnrsquot say anything in Polish which is why it was hard for me to pass exams at the end of the first semester I couldnrsquot write Polish at all But these problems occurred only when I first began studying Unfortunately my Polish language course lasted only two weeks (Male GI 2)

These linguistic concerns were accompanied by anxiety linked to possible difficulties with being accepted in the new circumstances and inability to make new friends

I think my greatest fear was about the language but also about the fear of meeting new people in Poland I mean the speaking and writing skills but I was also afraid that if my Polish was not good enough people wouldnrsquot treat me well and it would be hard for me to meet nice people I was afraid that this was what it was going to be like in Poland One meets so many different people everywhere (Female GI 3)

The need to have adequate knowledge of the language of teaching was mentioned on more than one occasion by various participants in our subsequent interview groups They thought that a serious problem which hindered their language acquisition in the initial period of studying was that all teaching was held in single-nationality groups

In my year of study there is one group which consists in Ukrainian students only I find this astonishing How are they coping with all the spelling tests or with the material that we are sup-posed to work on at home I think that these people should be given a chance to have contact with Poles to improve their knowledge of the language (Male GI 4)

The fact of having to learn in separate nationality-based groups was strongly criticized by our interviewees

I think this should not take place at a university The university should not have divided Poles and Ukrainians (Female GI 1)

Ukrainian students also thought that the situation made it hard for their relations with Poles to develop

This division was introduced at the very beginning although it wasnrsquot what we expected to happen And then we heard that Ukrainians should be studying separately in their own groups because Poles donrsquot want to study with them Apparently Poles said that with all these Ukrainians they donrsquot feel at home anymore (Male GI 2)

Fortunately according to our interviewees the situation improved in the second semester when they were given an opportunity to study in mixed groups

In the first semester we studied in Ukrainians-only groups and then in the second [semester] mixed groups were introduced with Poles in them This was the most important contribution to helping us learn Polish (Male GI 2)

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 5

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They also emphasized that studying in a group with Polish students provided for more contact conversations and getting to know one another

When I get to my class I always chat to my Polish colleagues people from my group Sometimes Poles try to persuade us to go to a party with them I think this group with Poles works They accept us (Female GI 1)

Studying in a group with Polish students also provided for better integration with Polish students

I am pleased that our group is mixed now [Polish-Ukrainian] because this helps us make friends among Polish students I think that in our group some Ukrainians have made friends with Poles Not everyone but there are a few (Male GI 3)

Another reason why our interviewees found it difficult to make progress in learning Polish and therefore to make new friends with Polish students was the location of their place of residence These Ukrainian students were housed in a dormitory situated far away from the university site in a small village near the city

I think the university has made a huge mistake in housing the Ukrainians and Belarussians away from the city in the dormitory in this village This is obviously problematic for people who have just arrived and speak no Polish at all All they ever speak among themselves is Ukrainian or Russian (Male GI 4)

This small village is badly linked with the university by public transport so the university provides transportation to and from the dormitory at specified hours

You have to go back to the dormitory immediately after classes because there is no other good connection [public transport] If I donrsquot want to hitchhike I go to the bus stop straight after my classes and I take the university bus down to the dormitory to make sure I get there without a problem (Female GI 1)

The transport issue meant that wishing to avoid problems with getting back to the dormitory the Ukrainian students left the university after lectures or classes and went back home right away In this way they often gave up spending time together with Polish students in the city which meant that it was harder for them to integrate or practice their Polish Effectively these students were separated from their Polish peers not only at the university but also in their free time as one of them comments

In fact itrsquos not even that we live in a hellip letrsquos call it ldquoghettordquo but that there are no Polish students around at all so we canrsquot practice the language Anyone who has lived in this small village away from the city since the time they came to the country and stayed there for a year has had no chance to learn Polish well In any case not as well as somebody who shares a room with a Polish student or lives somewhere in the ldquoPolishrdquo dormitory [with many Poles around] (Female GI 4)

As observed by many participants in the group interviews this produced weaker progress in the learning of the Polish language and also made it difficult for these new students to integrate with the student community and local culture The fact that our students failed to speak Polish created a social distance between them and the Polish population Although they shared the physical space with the local community at the university and in the city the physical proximity was not followed by social (Simmel 1950) It can be said that in the initial stages of their stay in the host country these students lived a parallel life and their acculturation could be seen as bearing the marks of social exclusion

6 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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017

Roux 2012 Ryan amp Twibell 2000) The initial stages of studying are particularly exposed to acculturation problems resulting in lower overall satisfaction with life and a specific kind of satisfaction with studying (Bugay 2004)

Acculturation was originally (see Forbush amp Foucault-Welles 2016) defined by Redfield Linton and Herskovits (1936) as ldquothose phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groupsrdquo (p 149) Since the 1930s researchers have been proposing various conceptualizations of this phenomenon (see for discussion Berry Phinney Sam amp Vedder 2006) yet none of them is as established and well known as John Berryrsquos two-dimensional model of acculturation (Maley Moeller amp Harvey 2015 Ward amp Kus 2012)

Berry (2005) defines acculturation as ldquothe dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual membersrdquo (p 698) Berry assumes that every immigrant has to face two basic problems First is whether and to what extent the immigrantrsquos own culture is valuable and therefore should be pre-served Second how useful is this contact with a foreign culture Should it be explored or avoided The model is therefore based on the distinction of two preferences (a) a relative pref-erence for maintaining onersquos heritage culture and identity and (b) a relative preference for being in contact with and participating in the larger society along with other ethno-cultural groups (Ward amp Kus 2012)

Combinations of responses to these two dimensions yield the following four acculturation orientations integration assimilation separation and marginalization (Maley et al 2015) The first strategy reflects a desire to maintain key features of the immigrant cultural identity while adopting aspects of the host majority culture The second has to do with the rejection of onersquos own social and cultural identity in favour of the culture of the host country The third on the other hand is linked to an adherence to onersquos own cultural identity and rejection of any relations with the representatives of the foreign culture Finally marginalization is based on an approach whereby both onersquos own and the host countryrsquos cultures are rejected (Bourhis Moise Perreault amp Senecal 1997)

Importantly the course of acculturation (choice of orientation in the adaptation process) is also linked with the response to the problems appearing in contact with another culture In the acculturation model these difficulties are termed as acculturative stressors (Berry 2006 Maley et al 2015) In this context acculturation can be perceived not so much as linear but as a dialectic cyclic and continual process (Forbush amp Foucault-Welles 2016) Based on a review of literature on the situation of foreign students Smith and Khawaja (2011) distinguished five primary acculturation-related stressors language barriers educational diffi-culties sociocultural stressors related to personal networks discrimination and other practical problems

The overall aim of this study is to review problems relating to the acculturation of Ukrainian students during their initial period of study abroad in Poland More importantly it was our objective to recognize the fears and difficulties these students experienced and the strategies of coping with major stressors they developed This we hoped might provide the basis for formulating practical recommendations for institutions organizing foreign studentsrsquo stays parti-cularly in the countries in which international students are a new and previously unknown challenge

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 3

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METHODS

In order to capture some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in relation to their decisions to study abroad and the difficulties they encountered in the initial period of study in Poland we conducted interviews using the group interview (GI) method (Gill Stewart Treasure amp Chadwick 2008 Willgerodt 2003) among the Ukrainian students from one of the universities situated in south eastern Poland close to the Ukrainian border A group as opposed to an individual interview allows for creating a feeling of safety particularly when the problems discussed are difficult Group interviews make it easier to express emotions and exchange views as they also stimulate group membersrsquo memories of situations they might have otherwise forgotten but that are relevant to the research theme (Kvale 1996) In our study we wanted to explore peoplersquos firsthand experiences and knowledge of the subject Discussion groups are also useful for exploring the basic concepts or elements that constitute new experi-ences or phenomena One of the interview questions was ldquoWhat was your greatest concern immediately before you came to study in Poland and what was your main difficulty in the initial period of study in this countryrdquo The group interviews were then analyzed using contenttheme analysis an analytical method widely used in qualitative research (Ryan amp Bernard 2003)

We recruited our respondents for the discussion groups providing them with the link to a Web-based qualifying questionnaire by e-mail sending one initial invitation in week 1 and two reminders sent to nonresponders in weeks 2 and 3 E-mail address lists of all currently enrolled Ukrainian students were requested from the registrarrsquos office at the surveyed higher education institution The universityrsquos International Student and Scholar Service Office sent the recruitment e-mails to Ukrainian students on its servers on behalf of the authors Altogether four group interview sessions were organized based on the prearranged interview scenarios Facilitated by qualified moderators these were held between May 15 and June 15 2014 The duration of each interview group was around 120 minutes The survey was given in Polish With group membersrsquo consent sessions were audio-recorded and later transcribed A research assistant was present to take down additional notes to ensure that all comments were recorded Altogether 40 students took part in the group interviews 28 women and 12 men all students of various bachelor of arts courses (year 1 2 3) As no significant differences were noticed between the responses of women and men no gender-based analyses were later carried out

RESULTS

According to acculturation theory and the previous research we identified four themes capturing the fears experienced by our respondents immediately before or at the very beginning of their stay in Poland These were associated with (a) the language barrier (b) a sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) the fear of having insufficient financial resources to finance their stay and studying in Poland

Fears and Difficulties Relating to the Language Barrier

The fear of insufficient competences in the language of the country in which one has chosen to study is natural to every foreign student (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 p 702) and our analysis

4 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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confirms its presence in this case Our respondents emphasized that before coming to Poland and at the beginning of their stay they feared that their Polish might not be sufficient to follow what was being said in lectures and classes and that this would interfere with their educational goals

I was afraid because I did not speak any Polish before coming to Poland My concern was that I would have problems with passing exams I was thinking how was I going to manage to learn the language in such a short time before the first exam session (Male GI 1)

I was only afraid because of the language At the beginning I only understood a little when I was spoken to but I couldnrsquot say anything in Polish which is why it was hard for me to pass exams at the end of the first semester I couldnrsquot write Polish at all But these problems occurred only when I first began studying Unfortunately my Polish language course lasted only two weeks (Male GI 2)

These linguistic concerns were accompanied by anxiety linked to possible difficulties with being accepted in the new circumstances and inability to make new friends

I think my greatest fear was about the language but also about the fear of meeting new people in Poland I mean the speaking and writing skills but I was also afraid that if my Polish was not good enough people wouldnrsquot treat me well and it would be hard for me to meet nice people I was afraid that this was what it was going to be like in Poland One meets so many different people everywhere (Female GI 3)

The need to have adequate knowledge of the language of teaching was mentioned on more than one occasion by various participants in our subsequent interview groups They thought that a serious problem which hindered their language acquisition in the initial period of studying was that all teaching was held in single-nationality groups

In my year of study there is one group which consists in Ukrainian students only I find this astonishing How are they coping with all the spelling tests or with the material that we are sup-posed to work on at home I think that these people should be given a chance to have contact with Poles to improve their knowledge of the language (Male GI 4)

The fact of having to learn in separate nationality-based groups was strongly criticized by our interviewees

I think this should not take place at a university The university should not have divided Poles and Ukrainians (Female GI 1)

Ukrainian students also thought that the situation made it hard for their relations with Poles to develop

This division was introduced at the very beginning although it wasnrsquot what we expected to happen And then we heard that Ukrainians should be studying separately in their own groups because Poles donrsquot want to study with them Apparently Poles said that with all these Ukrainians they donrsquot feel at home anymore (Male GI 2)

Fortunately according to our interviewees the situation improved in the second semester when they were given an opportunity to study in mixed groups

In the first semester we studied in Ukrainians-only groups and then in the second [semester] mixed groups were introduced with Poles in them This was the most important contribution to helping us learn Polish (Male GI 2)

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 5

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They also emphasized that studying in a group with Polish students provided for more contact conversations and getting to know one another

When I get to my class I always chat to my Polish colleagues people from my group Sometimes Poles try to persuade us to go to a party with them I think this group with Poles works They accept us (Female GI 1)

Studying in a group with Polish students also provided for better integration with Polish students

I am pleased that our group is mixed now [Polish-Ukrainian] because this helps us make friends among Polish students I think that in our group some Ukrainians have made friends with Poles Not everyone but there are a few (Male GI 3)

Another reason why our interviewees found it difficult to make progress in learning Polish and therefore to make new friends with Polish students was the location of their place of residence These Ukrainian students were housed in a dormitory situated far away from the university site in a small village near the city

I think the university has made a huge mistake in housing the Ukrainians and Belarussians away from the city in the dormitory in this village This is obviously problematic for people who have just arrived and speak no Polish at all All they ever speak among themselves is Ukrainian or Russian (Male GI 4)

This small village is badly linked with the university by public transport so the university provides transportation to and from the dormitory at specified hours

You have to go back to the dormitory immediately after classes because there is no other good connection [public transport] If I donrsquot want to hitchhike I go to the bus stop straight after my classes and I take the university bus down to the dormitory to make sure I get there without a problem (Female GI 1)

The transport issue meant that wishing to avoid problems with getting back to the dormitory the Ukrainian students left the university after lectures or classes and went back home right away In this way they often gave up spending time together with Polish students in the city which meant that it was harder for them to integrate or practice their Polish Effectively these students were separated from their Polish peers not only at the university but also in their free time as one of them comments

In fact itrsquos not even that we live in a hellip letrsquos call it ldquoghettordquo but that there are no Polish students around at all so we canrsquot practice the language Anyone who has lived in this small village away from the city since the time they came to the country and stayed there for a year has had no chance to learn Polish well In any case not as well as somebody who shares a room with a Polish student or lives somewhere in the ldquoPolishrdquo dormitory [with many Poles around] (Female GI 4)

As observed by many participants in the group interviews this produced weaker progress in the learning of the Polish language and also made it difficult for these new students to integrate with the student community and local culture The fact that our students failed to speak Polish created a social distance between them and the Polish population Although they shared the physical space with the local community at the university and in the city the physical proximity was not followed by social (Simmel 1950) It can be said that in the initial stages of their stay in the host country these students lived a parallel life and their acculturation could be seen as bearing the marks of social exclusion

6 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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017

members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

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METHODS

In order to capture some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in relation to their decisions to study abroad and the difficulties they encountered in the initial period of study in Poland we conducted interviews using the group interview (GI) method (Gill Stewart Treasure amp Chadwick 2008 Willgerodt 2003) among the Ukrainian students from one of the universities situated in south eastern Poland close to the Ukrainian border A group as opposed to an individual interview allows for creating a feeling of safety particularly when the problems discussed are difficult Group interviews make it easier to express emotions and exchange views as they also stimulate group membersrsquo memories of situations they might have otherwise forgotten but that are relevant to the research theme (Kvale 1996) In our study we wanted to explore peoplersquos firsthand experiences and knowledge of the subject Discussion groups are also useful for exploring the basic concepts or elements that constitute new experi-ences or phenomena One of the interview questions was ldquoWhat was your greatest concern immediately before you came to study in Poland and what was your main difficulty in the initial period of study in this countryrdquo The group interviews were then analyzed using contenttheme analysis an analytical method widely used in qualitative research (Ryan amp Bernard 2003)

We recruited our respondents for the discussion groups providing them with the link to a Web-based qualifying questionnaire by e-mail sending one initial invitation in week 1 and two reminders sent to nonresponders in weeks 2 and 3 E-mail address lists of all currently enrolled Ukrainian students were requested from the registrarrsquos office at the surveyed higher education institution The universityrsquos International Student and Scholar Service Office sent the recruitment e-mails to Ukrainian students on its servers on behalf of the authors Altogether four group interview sessions were organized based on the prearranged interview scenarios Facilitated by qualified moderators these were held between May 15 and June 15 2014 The duration of each interview group was around 120 minutes The survey was given in Polish With group membersrsquo consent sessions were audio-recorded and later transcribed A research assistant was present to take down additional notes to ensure that all comments were recorded Altogether 40 students took part in the group interviews 28 women and 12 men all students of various bachelor of arts courses (year 1 2 3) As no significant differences were noticed between the responses of women and men no gender-based analyses were later carried out

RESULTS

According to acculturation theory and the previous research we identified four themes capturing the fears experienced by our respondents immediately before or at the very beginning of their stay in Poland These were associated with (a) the language barrier (b) a sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) the fear of having insufficient financial resources to finance their stay and studying in Poland

Fears and Difficulties Relating to the Language Barrier

The fear of insufficient competences in the language of the country in which one has chosen to study is natural to every foreign student (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 p 702) and our analysis

4 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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confirms its presence in this case Our respondents emphasized that before coming to Poland and at the beginning of their stay they feared that their Polish might not be sufficient to follow what was being said in lectures and classes and that this would interfere with their educational goals

I was afraid because I did not speak any Polish before coming to Poland My concern was that I would have problems with passing exams I was thinking how was I going to manage to learn the language in such a short time before the first exam session (Male GI 1)

I was only afraid because of the language At the beginning I only understood a little when I was spoken to but I couldnrsquot say anything in Polish which is why it was hard for me to pass exams at the end of the first semester I couldnrsquot write Polish at all But these problems occurred only when I first began studying Unfortunately my Polish language course lasted only two weeks (Male GI 2)

These linguistic concerns were accompanied by anxiety linked to possible difficulties with being accepted in the new circumstances and inability to make new friends

I think my greatest fear was about the language but also about the fear of meeting new people in Poland I mean the speaking and writing skills but I was also afraid that if my Polish was not good enough people wouldnrsquot treat me well and it would be hard for me to meet nice people I was afraid that this was what it was going to be like in Poland One meets so many different people everywhere (Female GI 3)

The need to have adequate knowledge of the language of teaching was mentioned on more than one occasion by various participants in our subsequent interview groups They thought that a serious problem which hindered their language acquisition in the initial period of studying was that all teaching was held in single-nationality groups

In my year of study there is one group which consists in Ukrainian students only I find this astonishing How are they coping with all the spelling tests or with the material that we are sup-posed to work on at home I think that these people should be given a chance to have contact with Poles to improve their knowledge of the language (Male GI 4)

The fact of having to learn in separate nationality-based groups was strongly criticized by our interviewees

I think this should not take place at a university The university should not have divided Poles and Ukrainians (Female GI 1)

Ukrainian students also thought that the situation made it hard for their relations with Poles to develop

This division was introduced at the very beginning although it wasnrsquot what we expected to happen And then we heard that Ukrainians should be studying separately in their own groups because Poles donrsquot want to study with them Apparently Poles said that with all these Ukrainians they donrsquot feel at home anymore (Male GI 2)

Fortunately according to our interviewees the situation improved in the second semester when they were given an opportunity to study in mixed groups

In the first semester we studied in Ukrainians-only groups and then in the second [semester] mixed groups were introduced with Poles in them This was the most important contribution to helping us learn Polish (Male GI 2)

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 5

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They also emphasized that studying in a group with Polish students provided for more contact conversations and getting to know one another

When I get to my class I always chat to my Polish colleagues people from my group Sometimes Poles try to persuade us to go to a party with them I think this group with Poles works They accept us (Female GI 1)

Studying in a group with Polish students also provided for better integration with Polish students

I am pleased that our group is mixed now [Polish-Ukrainian] because this helps us make friends among Polish students I think that in our group some Ukrainians have made friends with Poles Not everyone but there are a few (Male GI 3)

Another reason why our interviewees found it difficult to make progress in learning Polish and therefore to make new friends with Polish students was the location of their place of residence These Ukrainian students were housed in a dormitory situated far away from the university site in a small village near the city

I think the university has made a huge mistake in housing the Ukrainians and Belarussians away from the city in the dormitory in this village This is obviously problematic for people who have just arrived and speak no Polish at all All they ever speak among themselves is Ukrainian or Russian (Male GI 4)

This small village is badly linked with the university by public transport so the university provides transportation to and from the dormitory at specified hours

You have to go back to the dormitory immediately after classes because there is no other good connection [public transport] If I donrsquot want to hitchhike I go to the bus stop straight after my classes and I take the university bus down to the dormitory to make sure I get there without a problem (Female GI 1)

The transport issue meant that wishing to avoid problems with getting back to the dormitory the Ukrainian students left the university after lectures or classes and went back home right away In this way they often gave up spending time together with Polish students in the city which meant that it was harder for them to integrate or practice their Polish Effectively these students were separated from their Polish peers not only at the university but also in their free time as one of them comments

In fact itrsquos not even that we live in a hellip letrsquos call it ldquoghettordquo but that there are no Polish students around at all so we canrsquot practice the language Anyone who has lived in this small village away from the city since the time they came to the country and stayed there for a year has had no chance to learn Polish well In any case not as well as somebody who shares a room with a Polish student or lives somewhere in the ldquoPolishrdquo dormitory [with many Poles around] (Female GI 4)

As observed by many participants in the group interviews this produced weaker progress in the learning of the Polish language and also made it difficult for these new students to integrate with the student community and local culture The fact that our students failed to speak Polish created a social distance between them and the Polish population Although they shared the physical space with the local community at the university and in the city the physical proximity was not followed by social (Simmel 1950) It can be said that in the initial stages of their stay in the host country these students lived a parallel life and their acculturation could be seen as bearing the marks of social exclusion

6 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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confirms its presence in this case Our respondents emphasized that before coming to Poland and at the beginning of their stay they feared that their Polish might not be sufficient to follow what was being said in lectures and classes and that this would interfere with their educational goals

I was afraid because I did not speak any Polish before coming to Poland My concern was that I would have problems with passing exams I was thinking how was I going to manage to learn the language in such a short time before the first exam session (Male GI 1)

I was only afraid because of the language At the beginning I only understood a little when I was spoken to but I couldnrsquot say anything in Polish which is why it was hard for me to pass exams at the end of the first semester I couldnrsquot write Polish at all But these problems occurred only when I first began studying Unfortunately my Polish language course lasted only two weeks (Male GI 2)

These linguistic concerns were accompanied by anxiety linked to possible difficulties with being accepted in the new circumstances and inability to make new friends

I think my greatest fear was about the language but also about the fear of meeting new people in Poland I mean the speaking and writing skills but I was also afraid that if my Polish was not good enough people wouldnrsquot treat me well and it would be hard for me to meet nice people I was afraid that this was what it was going to be like in Poland One meets so many different people everywhere (Female GI 3)

The need to have adequate knowledge of the language of teaching was mentioned on more than one occasion by various participants in our subsequent interview groups They thought that a serious problem which hindered their language acquisition in the initial period of studying was that all teaching was held in single-nationality groups

In my year of study there is one group which consists in Ukrainian students only I find this astonishing How are they coping with all the spelling tests or with the material that we are sup-posed to work on at home I think that these people should be given a chance to have contact with Poles to improve their knowledge of the language (Male GI 4)

The fact of having to learn in separate nationality-based groups was strongly criticized by our interviewees

I think this should not take place at a university The university should not have divided Poles and Ukrainians (Female GI 1)

Ukrainian students also thought that the situation made it hard for their relations with Poles to develop

This division was introduced at the very beginning although it wasnrsquot what we expected to happen And then we heard that Ukrainians should be studying separately in their own groups because Poles donrsquot want to study with them Apparently Poles said that with all these Ukrainians they donrsquot feel at home anymore (Male GI 2)

Fortunately according to our interviewees the situation improved in the second semester when they were given an opportunity to study in mixed groups

In the first semester we studied in Ukrainians-only groups and then in the second [semester] mixed groups were introduced with Poles in them This was the most important contribution to helping us learn Polish (Male GI 2)

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 5

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They also emphasized that studying in a group with Polish students provided for more contact conversations and getting to know one another

When I get to my class I always chat to my Polish colleagues people from my group Sometimes Poles try to persuade us to go to a party with them I think this group with Poles works They accept us (Female GI 1)

Studying in a group with Polish students also provided for better integration with Polish students

I am pleased that our group is mixed now [Polish-Ukrainian] because this helps us make friends among Polish students I think that in our group some Ukrainians have made friends with Poles Not everyone but there are a few (Male GI 3)

Another reason why our interviewees found it difficult to make progress in learning Polish and therefore to make new friends with Polish students was the location of their place of residence These Ukrainian students were housed in a dormitory situated far away from the university site in a small village near the city

I think the university has made a huge mistake in housing the Ukrainians and Belarussians away from the city in the dormitory in this village This is obviously problematic for people who have just arrived and speak no Polish at all All they ever speak among themselves is Ukrainian or Russian (Male GI 4)

This small village is badly linked with the university by public transport so the university provides transportation to and from the dormitory at specified hours

You have to go back to the dormitory immediately after classes because there is no other good connection [public transport] If I donrsquot want to hitchhike I go to the bus stop straight after my classes and I take the university bus down to the dormitory to make sure I get there without a problem (Female GI 1)

The transport issue meant that wishing to avoid problems with getting back to the dormitory the Ukrainian students left the university after lectures or classes and went back home right away In this way they often gave up spending time together with Polish students in the city which meant that it was harder for them to integrate or practice their Polish Effectively these students were separated from their Polish peers not only at the university but also in their free time as one of them comments

In fact itrsquos not even that we live in a hellip letrsquos call it ldquoghettordquo but that there are no Polish students around at all so we canrsquot practice the language Anyone who has lived in this small village away from the city since the time they came to the country and stayed there for a year has had no chance to learn Polish well In any case not as well as somebody who shares a room with a Polish student or lives somewhere in the ldquoPolishrdquo dormitory [with many Poles around] (Female GI 4)

As observed by many participants in the group interviews this produced weaker progress in the learning of the Polish language and also made it difficult for these new students to integrate with the student community and local culture The fact that our students failed to speak Polish created a social distance between them and the Polish population Although they shared the physical space with the local community at the university and in the city the physical proximity was not followed by social (Simmel 1950) It can be said that in the initial stages of their stay in the host country these students lived a parallel life and their acculturation could be seen as bearing the marks of social exclusion

6 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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They also emphasized that studying in a group with Polish students provided for more contact conversations and getting to know one another

When I get to my class I always chat to my Polish colleagues people from my group Sometimes Poles try to persuade us to go to a party with them I think this group with Poles works They accept us (Female GI 1)

Studying in a group with Polish students also provided for better integration with Polish students

I am pleased that our group is mixed now [Polish-Ukrainian] because this helps us make friends among Polish students I think that in our group some Ukrainians have made friends with Poles Not everyone but there are a few (Male GI 3)

Another reason why our interviewees found it difficult to make progress in learning Polish and therefore to make new friends with Polish students was the location of their place of residence These Ukrainian students were housed in a dormitory situated far away from the university site in a small village near the city

I think the university has made a huge mistake in housing the Ukrainians and Belarussians away from the city in the dormitory in this village This is obviously problematic for people who have just arrived and speak no Polish at all All they ever speak among themselves is Ukrainian or Russian (Male GI 4)

This small village is badly linked with the university by public transport so the university provides transportation to and from the dormitory at specified hours

You have to go back to the dormitory immediately after classes because there is no other good connection [public transport] If I donrsquot want to hitchhike I go to the bus stop straight after my classes and I take the university bus down to the dormitory to make sure I get there without a problem (Female GI 1)

The transport issue meant that wishing to avoid problems with getting back to the dormitory the Ukrainian students left the university after lectures or classes and went back home right away In this way they often gave up spending time together with Polish students in the city which meant that it was harder for them to integrate or practice their Polish Effectively these students were separated from their Polish peers not only at the university but also in their free time as one of them comments

In fact itrsquos not even that we live in a hellip letrsquos call it ldquoghettordquo but that there are no Polish students around at all so we canrsquot practice the language Anyone who has lived in this small village away from the city since the time they came to the country and stayed there for a year has had no chance to learn Polish well In any case not as well as somebody who shares a room with a Polish student or lives somewhere in the ldquoPolishrdquo dormitory [with many Poles around] (Female GI 4)

As observed by many participants in the group interviews this produced weaker progress in the learning of the Polish language and also made it difficult for these new students to integrate with the student community and local culture The fact that our students failed to speak Polish created a social distance between them and the Polish population Although they shared the physical space with the local community at the university and in the city the physical proximity was not followed by social (Simmel 1950) It can be said that in the initial stages of their stay in the host country these students lived a parallel life and their acculturation could be seen as bearing the marks of social exclusion

6 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Fears and Difficulties Related to Feelings of Separation from Family and Friends

Our interviewees observed that the separation from their families and friends resulting from their moving to Poland to study was another essential problem they experienced A consider-able distance from the family home loosening of the ties with their families and peers and longing for their loved ones were major concerns in the initial period of their stay

Before I came [to Poland] it was difficult for me to imagine that I would not see my mother or my friends for a while When I arrived I realized that they were not here anymore next to me and that I was all alone This was really a terrifying feeling I understood then that I made a difficult choice (Female GI 2)

Our respondents at a very young age of eighteen or nineteen became independent abroad in an unfamiliar place away from the support of their family and friends which might have also exacerbated the feelings of loneliness

What I was afraid of was how I was going to cope here [in Poland] without my parents It was terrifying for me because in Ukraine I was with my parents all the time but I came [to Poland] alone It is not another town in Ukraine that I went to but to another country It was a very difficult period for me (Female GI 4)

As demonstrated by various other studies conducted among foreign students a majority of them unfortunately experienced loneliness andor social isolation in the course of their studies especially in the first months (Mcwhirter 1997 Sawir Marginson Deumert Nyland amp Ramia 2007) Our analysis of the material collected during the four group interviews confirmed the emergence of an unpleasant and hard-to-accept experience of loneliness very inadequate to these studentsrsquo interpersonal needs

I had terrible problems with loneliness in the entire first month of my living in Poland I find it even difficult to talk about it now (Female GI 3)

Another female participant in the survey emphasized that at the beginning she really feared that she was ldquonot going to find any friends and be all alonerdquo (Female GI 1) Negative feelings of loneliness were primarily experienced at the beginning of studentsrsquo stay in Poland

At the beginning I just wanted to go home to my friends to my mum I felt terrible so lonely (Female GI 2)

The analysis of group interview material demonstrated that the feelings of separation from family and friends and subsequent loneliness were enhanced by the lack of regular face-to-face contact with them The direct face-to-face contact with people back in Ukraine was rare relative to needs because of a considerable distance and high costs of travel

At the beginning I used to go to Ukraine go home although it takes me 26 hours to get there so I went home only once Earlier on I went to Lviv2 on Sundays to meet my mother (Male GI 1)

2Lviv is a large borderland city in western Ukraine with a population of approximately 800000 It is also the capital of the Lviv Oblast It is situated about 90 km from the PolandndashUkraine border It is well connected with the rest of Ukraine The time needed to travel for example from Rzeszoacutew or Lublin to Lviv including the time spent on the Schengen (PolandndashUkraine) border is approximately 5 to 6 hours

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 7

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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by [

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017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another respondent said

I donrsquot go home to Ukraine very often This year I went only twice It takes too much time and money (Male GI 3)

Additional difficulties lie in the fact that Ukrainian citizens need visas to get to the Schengen Zone countries3 among them Poland

My family never comes to Poland They donrsquot have the necessary visas and it is too expensive for them (Female GI 1)

Moreover the deteriorating economic crisis in Ukraine related to the RussianndashUkrainian military conflict in the eastern part of the country (Cecire 2014) resulted in a drop in the value of the Ukrainian currency the Hryvnia4 and higher travel costs This means that it became practically impossible for our studentsrsquo families to travel to Poland

They visited me only once at the beginning Besides the exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the zloty is so high now that my relatives in Ukraine find it extremely difficult (Male GI 4)

As mentioned in the previous section our respondents admitted that at the beginning of their studies they often felt alienated and made various attempts to cope To keep their longing for home at bay they most frequently used the new media particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Skype

We have contact with the relatives in Ukraine through Skype or the social media such as Face-book I also keep in touch through e-mail Sometimes I talk on the phone but really very seldom (Male GI 1)

This form of communication was preferable not only because of low costs but also because one was able to see the person on the other end of the call

I like Skype because in this way I can see my mother and it is free (Female GI 2)

Another strategy for coping with the feelings of loneliness was to live from the onset with people they already knew such as friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who also began their studies at the same university

I have lived since the very beginning with two friends and my boyfriend so I didnrsquot have any problems with loneliness (Female GI 1)

Our analysis of the group interview material showed that for many of our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness to subside came with learning Polish to the conver-sational level which helped them make Polish friends

When after almost a year I managed to learn Polish everything changed and I didnrsquot feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

3Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union nor of Schengen so Ukrainian citizens need visas to enter the Schengen Zone

4After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 the war in Donbass in March 2014 and the time of our research conducted in Poland (MayJune 2014) the Hryvnia exchange rate against the zloty dropped by almost 35

(National Bank of Ukraine 2016)

8 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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017

respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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t 13

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017

(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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017

With time old acquaintances were replaced by new which helped these students cope with the shock caused by the separation from their family and friends and also to deal with loneliness

My friends also study in Poland In all truth I think I have already lost most of my acquaintances in Ukraine Now my friends are only the people I know here in Poland (Female GI 2)

It can be concluded from what our respondents said at a later stage that when the initial shock of having to find their way in entirely new circumstances subsided it was replaced by feelings of satisfaction and comfortable adaptation

Besides there is always Skype and with new friends colleagues girls and boys there is no time to feel lonely anymore (Male GI 4)

These studies indicate that the process of studentsrsquo acculturation in relation to the separation from home by a considerable geographical distance is associated with changes in maintaining social contacts Frequent personal meetings were replaced with less frequent visits and com-municating via electronic means (Glick Schiller 1999) We found that in the age of electronic communication these international students managed to maintain their links with friends and relatives from home as a coping strategy in the otherwise difficult and stressful situation (Smith amp Khawaja 2011)

Fears Relating to the Awareness of Stereotype-Based Cultural Barriers

At this point it needs to be emphasized that despite our respondentsrsquo early fears the analysis of our material showed that most of them were convinced that their relationships with Poles at the university and elsewhere became quite acceptable although sometimes they were exposed to stressful situations linked to negative stereotypes of Ukrainians that are still widespread among Poles It appears that common stereotypes of which our respondents were well aware seldom interfered with the Polish studentsrsquo attitudes toward their Ukrainian peers As it turned out against our respondentsrsquo initial fears most Poles did not discriminate against students from Ukraine and most of the time they treated them with kindness and interest

I can say that I have only met good people here who have always helped me for example with the project work I lived with Poles during the first year [at the university] and they always used to say ldquoYou are Ukrainian so you canrsquot know this if you donrsquot know how to edit this we will helprdquo I think at the first year I was given more help than other Poles (Male GI 1)

Our respondents also observed that their Polish peers and lecturers were sympathetic in the light of the social and political situation in Ukraine after the Euromaidan in Kiev and the Russian aggression in Ukrainersquos eastern territories (Cecire 2014)

Everyone expressed their sympathy and concern for us I often heard nice things about Ukraine and Ukrainians from students and lecturers For example they said that we fought [the Russians] very bravely (Female GI 2)

But although in our intervieweesrsquo opinions discrimination against Ukrainian students was not common at all occasional negative attitudes particularly stuck with our group interview

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 9

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

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f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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ded

by [

Uni

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ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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017

and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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members even though spoken within a well-known context of aversion to the other in fact to any foreigner (Harris amp Johnson 2007)

There are people in my group who say it outright that they canrsquot stand foreigners Ukrainians or Russians Fortunately these people are few and far between (Female GI 3)

As mentioned before these negative stereotypes of Ukrainians still echoing in Poland today originated from the historically difficult relations between the two nations particularly during World War II

I met these Polish students once who told me that they hated Ukrainians My impression was that perhaps they were linking my identity to Banderarsquos I thought this was unfair and damaging (Male GI 1)

Our respondents reported that sometimes they encountered prejudice against Ukrainians as a national group beyond the academic circles As one of the participants recollected she was refused the rental of a flat on the basis of her nationality

I was looking for a flat to rent once When Poles who answered the phone found out that the flat was for Ukrainians they didnrsquot want to rent it out at all They simply said that they wanted noth-ing to do with Ukrainians (Female GI 2)

It is likely that behind this particular situation was the fact that Ukrainians particularly the young ones are seen by some Poles as noisy and alcohol-abusing The stereotype is that Ukrainian girls are primarily after Polish husbands or even involved in prostitution (Inglot- Brzęk amp Stopa 2015)

I met a Pole once who told me that I donrsquot have to travel to Ukraine and back all the time because I can just settle down here in Poland as a prostitute (Female GI 1)

The scrutiny of the group interview material showed that Ukrainian students sometimes were discriminated against in the academic environment and beyond Although this happened very rarely regrettably at the university they were mistreated also by some of the faculty members

We had a teacher once who wouldnrsquot speak to you as soon as he realized that you were from Ukraine He simply wouldnrsquot help a Ukrainian student Once he asked a student directly ldquoAre you Ukrainianrdquo When the answer came positive the lecturer just turned back and walked off He wouldnrsquot talk to the student at all (Male GI 1)

Our analysis of respondentsrsquo comments indicated that the phenomenon of discrimination may affect international students in the educational setting and beyond

Fears Related to Having Insufficient Means to Finance the Entire Period of Study in Poland

The members of our group interviews disclosed that their main source of financing the costs of living and university fees was the money provided by their families or their own means Less frequently these were financed with grants and very rarely by studentsrsquo employment A few

10 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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a] a

t 13

12 2

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017

respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

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Uni

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a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

respondents declared that they were holders of the Polersquos Card5 so they were exempted from paying the tuition fees

The war in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crisis that followed meant that many average income families lost a lot of their earnings Many of our interviewees worried that in the situ-ation of the serious devaluation of Ukrainian currency their parents would be unable to continue financing their education in Poland

The biggest problem is to have enough money to live on here [in Poland] because the [economic] situation in Ukraine is poor now At the beginning of the year things were still OK but now the exchange rate between the Ukrainian Hryvnia and Polish zloty is even higher than before Because the value of the Hryvnia dropped by about 30 against the zloty our payment for tuition automatically increased by this 30 Imagine now that we have to have even more Hryvnia to pay for the university and live here This is the big problem for us (Male GI 2)

In this situation our respondents realized that ideally they should find temporary jobs in Poland This was not a simple task Polish employers are reluctant to hire people without any professional experience and if they decide to employ a student they prefer a Polish national Another issue is that according to our respondents Polish employers avoid hiring non-European Union students because they find it difficult to find the right regulations to follow

Every employer decides for himself who to hire but I have been in a situation when the employer found out that I was from Ukraine and didnrsquot want to employ me because he didnrsquot know whether he could employ a foreigner or not and what kind of contract he could sign with me or how much tax he should be paying This is why they refuse to employ us and want Poles only (Female GI 1)

Our research demonstrates that financial barriers turned out to be one of the stressors that made the acculturation process difficult particularly when students had to pay their tuition fees and cover other costs of studying with their own funds

DISCUSSION

Our research aimed at capturing some of the main fears experienced by Ukrainian students in the aftermath of the decision to study in Poland and the difficulties they encountered in their initial period of study Based on the GI material our analysis has isolated four main acculturation-related stressors (a) language barrier (b) sense of separation from family and friends (c) awareness of the existence of stereotype-based cultural barriers and (d) fear of having insufficient financial resources to fund their stay and study in Poland

Consistent with other research to date the linguistic barrier was proven by far most relevant Language is one of the most important factors that encourages establishing ties with the local culture (Noels Pon amp Cleacutement 1996) ties with the local people and the overall acculturation

5Karta Polaka (Polersquos Card) is a document confirming belonging to the Polish nation which may be given to individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries while belonging to the Polish nation according to conditions defined by law and who do not have prior Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 11

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

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by [

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and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

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by [

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a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

(Ward amp Kennedy 1993) International students who are not very well acquainted with the lan-guage of a host country find it difficult to get to know local students and following from this local culture This makes their sociocultural and psychological acculturation problematic (see Biłas-Henne amp Boski 2014)

The problem of linguistic barrier was not helped by a kind of ldquootheringrdquo of Ukrainian stu-dents and those from the former Soviet states in terms of both social and living circumstances (their domicile in the single-nationality groups in the dormitory located outside of the city) and the organization of the classes in single-nationality groups which definitely hampered their linguistic and cultural integration with the Polish peers

It needs to be emphasized that this situation was not always these studentsrsquo choice It turned out that in the initial period of our intervieweesrsquo stay in Poland the university that should have encouraged social meetings and intragroup integration thus becoming an important environ-ment in which new friends could be recruited failed to provide the space in which students felt they could build new social relations to reduce the distance between themselves and their Polish peers

This research demonstrates that the lack of linguistic competences has broader impact on the context of social relations Insufficient knowledge of the language of a host country not only makes it difficult to acquire academic knowledge (Liu 2011 Terui 2011) but also sets limits to the extent of social relations beyond onersquos language group which results in higher stress related to sociocultural adjustment (Yeh amp Inose 2003) and more than anything social isolation (Hirai Frazier amp Syed 2015) Significantly for foreign students the feeling of lone-liness is one of the hardest initial experiences in their international academic sojourn (Brown amp Holloway 2008 Poyrazli 2015 Sawir et al 2007)

Also our study showed that the problem of social isolation was aggravated by difficult con-tacts with family and friends in the country of origin resulting from objective difficulties such as being away from home but also situational problems linked to the deteriorating financial situation of our students and their families related to the socioeconomic crisis and administrat-ive barriers (eg visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens) Among the coping strategies was the use of the new media As confirmed by previous research support of family and friends from the country of origin even if received via electronic media contributes to studentsrsquo better psychological adjustment to the new reality (Cemalcilar Falbo amp Stapleton 2005) although even intense online communication cannot compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact

Another method of coping with loneliness was finding accommodation at the arrival in Poland with friends or boyfriendsgirlfriends who were also beginning their courses or were already studying at the same university Research shows that close contacts with other students from the country of origin and the support they produce reduce disorientation and the feelings of longing for home (Furnham amp Bochner 1982) contributing to a better psychological adjust-ment in the initial period of studying abroad (Ward Bochner amp Furnham 2001) It needs to be emphasized that for our respondents a turning point for the feelings of loneliness beginning to subside was learning enough Polish to handle easy conversation This made it possible to make new friends with Polish peers releasing these students from the necessity to remain within their culture of origin The respondents who made contact with the local community owing to the knowledge of the Polish language they acquired emphasized that this experience alone ended the period of remaining at the surface and began the time of participating in the community becoming insiders (Nowicka amp Kaweh 2009)

12 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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ded

by [

Uni

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t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Another important factor related to the feelings of loneliness and social isolation that contri-butes to the difficulties with acculturation among foreign students is the risk of being viewed negatively and discriminated against because of the minority status (Nora amp Cabrera 1996 Sandhu 1995) Previous research demonstrates that foreign students can be affected by discrimination both within the educational process (by being ignored condescended to disre-spected or verbally abused by academic staff and by biased grading) and beyond (through unequal access to employment opportunities exposure to stereotyping disrespectful or offens-ive comments about their country and culture belittling or hostile treatment on public transport in shops restaurants hotels and other public places or even by being physically attacked) (Hanassab 2006 Lee amp Rice 2007) In the context of interest to us it is important to note that perceived discrimination may negatively affect foreign studentsrsquo evaluation of their experiences in their relations with an educational institution (Perrucci amp Hu 1995)

Our respondents assessed their relations with Poles at the university and beyond as ambigu-ous The Ukrainians who participated in our study encountered various attitudes from extremely positive to very hostile Among the difficulties experienced in the acculturation process they mentioned cultural stereotypes which sometimes became an obstacle in such important matters as accommodation (refusal to rent to a Ukrainian for the fear of alcoholism prostitution and illegal work) They also contributed to discrimination in the job market even in temporary job settings

Our study shows that a significant role in the acculturation process is also played by the financial barriers particularly when students have to pay their own tuition fees and costs of liv-ing with their own funds (Souto-Otero Huisman Beerkens de Wit amp Vujić 2013) This is consistent with prior research that suggests that international students can experience financial difficulties as a stressor (Sherry Thomas amp Chui 2010) These become particularly significant in the case of Ukrainian students studying in Poland because of the economic crisis in their country of origin and the related drop in the value of the Hryvnia (Kopych amp Bardyn 2015)

Altogether the analysis of studentsrsquo responses recorded in the group interviews helped us form a practical postulate of the need to endorse new mechanisms for integrating the entire uni-versity community for stimulating processes that would make it easier for foreign students to adapt socially especially in the initial period of study It is recommended that universities make sure that educational process is not taking place in single-nationality groups and that all activi-ties such as lectures and classes are shared (Hattingh 2016 Janmaat 2014) It is necessary to develop programs supporting the incorporation of international students in the academic com-munity (Yeh amp Inose 2003) There are many options available such as supporting various forms of activities to help students discover their shared interests which are above any eth-nicnationality divisions These could be built around music sports or shared accommodation in mixed dormitories There should be also more emphasis on improving studentsrsquo communi-cation skills by raising their linguistic competences (Smith amp Khawaja 2011 Yeh amp Inose 2003) Additionally such programs should consider an introduction of various anti-stereotyping strategies among the students of the host country aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance inclusion and the creation of mixed-nationality cooperation and friendships These activities and programs could help people imagine what it is like to be a member of minority assist them in establishing contacts and perhaps help them conclude that people are similar independently of their sociocultural origins It is very important to create a better space for getting to know each other and to work together to help break through stereotypes and prejudice

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 13

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f Fl

orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

and create positive relations between foreign students and students of the host country Such behavior would be consistent with the contact hypothesis according to which getting to know members of another group by a shared activity improves onersquos attitude toward the group as a whole (Allport 1954) The need to introduce the activities proposed in this article is particularly urgent in the Central and Eastern European countries where educational migration is a new phenomenon with the absence of tried and tested acculturation-supporting mechanisms

AUTHOR BIOS

Sławomir Rębisz PhD is a sociologist and senior lecturer at the University of Rzeszoacutew Poland He is a member of the Faculty of Education His areas of academic interest include the range and direction of changes in the higher education in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the feelings of loneliness and academic careers

Paweł Grygiel PhD is a sociologist and an assistant professor in the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw Poland His main research interests focus on social networks peer rela-tions feeling of loneliness health stigma and discrimination

ORCID

Sławomir Rębisz httporcidorg0000-0002-2458-0842

REFERENCES

Allport G W (1954) The nature of prejudice London UK Routledge Berry J W (2005) Acculturation Living successfully in two cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations

29(6) 697ndash712 doi101016jijintrel200507013 Berry J W (2006) Acculturative stress In P T P Wong amp L C J Wong (Eds) Handbook of multicultural

perspectives on stress and coping (pp 287ndash298) Boston MA Springer US Berry J W Phinney J S Sam D L amp Vedder P (2006) Immigrant youth Acculturation identity and adaptation

Applied Psychology 55(3) 303ndash332 doi101111j1464-0597200600256x Biłas-Henne M amp Boski P (2014) Bufor wielokulturowy [Multicultural buffer] Psychologia Społeczna 2(29)

179ndash199 Bourhis R Y Moise L C Perreault S amp Senecal S (1997) Towards an interactive acculturation model A social

psychological approach International Journal of Psychology 32(6) 369ndash386 doi101080002075997400629 Brandenburg U Berghoff S amp Taboadela O (2014) The Erasmus Impact Study Effects of mobility on the skills and

employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions Luxembourg Publications Office

Brown L amp Holloway I (2008) The initial stage of the international sojourn Excitement or culture shock British Journal of Guidance amp Counselling 36(1) 33ndash49 doi10108003069880701715689

Bugay A (2007) Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students Presented at the 4th Education in a Changing Enviroment Conference University of Salford Manchester UK September 371ndash376

Cacioppo J T amp Patrick W (2009) Loneliness Human nature and the need for social connection New York NY W W Norton

Carlson J S amp Widaman K F (1988) The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures International Journal of Intercultural Relations 12 1ndash18 doi1010160147-1767(88)90003-x

Cecire M (2014) The Russian invasion of Ukraine Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes Retrieved from http wwwfpriorgarticles201403russian-invasion-ukraine

14 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

Dow

nloa

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12 2

2 O

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er 2

017

Celinska K (2015) Attitudes towards minorities in post-communist and democratic Poland Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 15(3) 474ndash491 doi101111sena12159

Cemalcilar Z Falbo T amp Stapleton L M (2005) Cyber communication A new opportunity for international studentsrsquo adaptation International Journal of Intercultural Relations 29(1) 91ndash110 doi101016jijintrel2005 04002

Central Statistical Office (2015) Higher education institutions and their finances in 2014 Warszawa Poland Statistical Publishing Establishment

Chiu M L (1995) The influence of anticipatory fear on foreign student adjustment An exploratory study International Journal of Intercultural Relations 19(1) 1ndash44 doi1010160147-1767(94)00022-p

Cubillos J H amp Ilvento T (2012) The impact of study abroad on studentsrsquo self-efficacy perceptions Foreign Language Annals 45(4) 494ndash511 doi101111j1944-9720201312002x

Davies N (2007) No simple victory World War II in Europe 1939-1945 New York NY Viking Decade of Internationalisation (2015) [Newsletter ldquoStudy in Polandrdquo Special edition no 5] Retrieved from http

wwwstudyinpolandplkonsorcjumindexphpoption=com_contentampview=categoryamplayout=blogampid=210ampItemid =100143

Dewey D P Ring S Gardner D amp Belnap R K (2013) Social network formation and development during study abroad in the Middle East System 41(2) 269ndash282 doi101016jsystem201302004

Doman L C H amp Le Roux A (2012) The relationship between loneliness and psychological well-being among third-year students A cross-cultural investigation International Journal of Culture and Mental Health 5(3) 153ndash168 doi101080175428632011579389

Forbush E amp Foucault-Welles B (2016) Social media use and adaptation among Chinese students beginning to study in the United States International Journal of Intercultural Relations 50 1ndash12 doi101016jijintrel 201510007

Furnham A amp Bochner S (1982) Social difficulty in a foreign culture An empirical analysis of culture shock In S Bochner (Ed) Cultures in contact Studies in cross-cultural interaction (pp 161ndash198) Oxford UK Pergamon

Gill P Stewart K Treasure E amp Chadwick B (2008) Methods of data collection in qualitative research Interviews and focus groups BDJ 204(6) 291ndash295 doi101038bdj2008192

Glick Schiller N (1999) Transmigrants and nation-states Something old and something new in the US immigrant experience In C Hirschman P Kasinitz amp J DeWind (Eds) The handbook of international migration The American experience New York NY Russell Sage Foundation 94ndash119

Grygiel P Świtaj P Anczewska M Humenny G Rębisz S amp Sikorska J (2013) Loneliness and depression among Polish university students Preliminary findings from a longitudinal study In N Popov C Wolhuter G Hilton J Ogunleye amp O Chigisheva (Eds) Education in one world perspectives from different nations (Vol 11 pp 286ndash292) Sophia Bulgaria Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES)

Gupta S (2014) Alienation and quality of life An empirical study on personal predictors of loneliness International Journal of Science and Research 3(12) 1355ndash1358

Guumlruumlz K (2011) Higher education and international student mobility in the global knowledge economy (2nd ed) Albany NY State University of New York Press

Hanassab S (2006) Diversity international students and perceived discrimination Implications for educators and counselors Journal of Studies in International Education 10(2) 157ndash172 doi1011771028315305283051

Harris M amp Johnson O (2007) Cultural anthropology (7th ed) Boston MA PearsonAllyn amp Bacon Hattingh S (2016) A review of literature What is an ideal internationalised school Educational Review 68(3)

306ndash321 doi1010800013191120151087970 Hirai R Frazier P amp Syed M (2015) Psychological and sociocultural adjustment of first-year international students

Trajectories and predictors Journal of Counseling Psychology 62(3) 438ndash452 doi101037cou0000085 Hud B (2013) Ukraińcy i Polacy na Naddnieprzu Wołyniu i w Galicji Wschodniej w XIX i pierwszej połowie XX

wieku zarys historii konfliktoacutew społeczno-etnicznych [Ukrainians and Poles At Pridnestrovie Volyn and Eastern Galicia in XIX and first half of XX century A brief history of socio-ethnic conflicts] Lwoacutew-Warszawa Poland Pracownia Wydawnicza ElSet

Inglot-Brzęk E amp Stopa M (2015) Nowe konteksty ldquostarychrdquo pograniczy Przypadki ukraińskich studentoacutew w rzeszowskiej uczelni [The new contexts of ldquooldrdquo borderlands The Ukrainian studentsrsquo cases in Rzeszow University] In A Chudzik (Ed) Na pograniczach Kulturowe obrazy ludzi i miejsc (pp 229ndash246) Sanok Poland PWSZ im Jana Grodka w Sanoku

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 15

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ctob

er 2

017

Janmaat J G (2014) Do ethnically mixed classrooms promote inclusive attitudes towards immigrants everywhere A study among native adolescents in 14 countries European Sociological Review 30(6) 810ndash822 doi101093 esrjcu075

Kopych R amp Bardyn I (2015) Domestic and external demand shocks in Ukraine Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie 7(943) 79ndash93 doi1015678ZNUEK201509430705

Kvale S (1996) Interviews An introduction to qualitative research interviewing Thousand Oaks CA Sage Lee C S Therriault D J amp Linderholm T (2012) On the cognitive benefits of cultural experience Exploring the

relationship between studying abroad and creative thinking Cultural experience and creative thinking Applied Cognitive Psychology 26(5) 768ndash778 doi101002acp2857

Lee J J amp Rice C (2007) Welcome to America International student perceptions of discrimination Higher Education 53(3) 381ndash409 doi101007s10734-005-4508-3

Liu L (2011) An international graduate studentrsquos ESL learning experience beyond the classroom TESL Canada Journal 29(1) 77ndash92

Lu Y amp Zhou H (2013) Academic achievement and loneliness of migrant children in China School segregation and segmented assimilation Comparative Education Review 57(1) 85ndash116 doi101086667790

Maley J Moeller M amp Harvey M (2015) Strategic inpatriate acculturation A stress perspective International Journal of Intercultural Relations 49 308ndash321 doi101016jijintrel201505008

McWhirter B T (1997) A pilot study of loneliness in ethnic minority college students Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal 25(3) 295ndash304 doi102224sbp1997253295

National Bank of Ukraine (2016 February 1) [Official exchange rate of Hryvnia against foreign currencies] Retrieved from httpwwwbankgovuacontrolencurmetaldetailcurrencyperiod=daily

Noels K Pon G amp Cleacutement R (1996) Language identity and adjustment The role of linguistic self-confidence in the acculturation process Journal of Language and Social Psychology 15 246ndash264 doi101177 0261927x960153003

Nora A amp Cabrera A F (1996) The role of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination on the adjustment of minority students to college Journal of Higher Education 67(2) 119ndash148 doi10108000221546199611780253

Nowicka M amp Kaweh R (2009) Looking at the practice of UN professionals strategies for managing differences and the emergence of a cosmopolitan identity In M Nowicka amp M Rovisco (Eds) Cosmopolitanism in practice (pp 51ndash71) Farnham UK Ashgate

Organization for Economic Cooperation amp Development (2014) Education at a glance 2014 OECD indicators Paris France OECD Publishing httpsdoiorg101787eag-2014-en

Perrucci R amp Hu H (1995) Satisfaction with social and educational experiences among international graduate students Research in Higher Education 36(4) 491ndash508 doi101007bf02207908

Piotrowski T (Ed) (2000) Genocide and rescue in Wołyń Recollections of the Ukrainian nationalist ethnic cleansing campaign against the Poles during World War II Jefferson NC McFarland

Poyrazli S (2015) Psychological symptoms and concerns experienced by international students Outreach implications for counseling centers Journal of International Students 5(3) 306ndash312

Rębisz S amp Sikora I (2015) The main motivations of Ukrainian students who choose to study in Poland Practice and Theory in Systems of Education 10(4) 385ndash396

Redfield R Linton R amp Herskovits M J (1936) Memorandum for the study of acculturation American Anthropol-ogist 38(1) 149ndash152 doi101525aa193638102a00330

Rosenstreich E amp Margalit M (2015) Loneliness mindfulness and academic achievements A moderation effect among first-year college students Open Psychology Journal 8(1) 138ndash145 doi1021741874350101508010138

Ryan G W amp Bernard H R (2003) Techniques to identify themes Field Methods 15(1) 85ndash109 doi101177 1525822x02239569

Ryan M E amp Twibell R S (2000) Concerns values stress coping health and educational outcomes of college students who studied abroad International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24(4) 409ndash435 doi101016 s0147-1767(00)00014-6

Sandhu D S (1995) An examination of the psychological needs of the international students Implications for counselling and psychotherapy International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 17 229ndash239 doi101007bf01407739

Sawir E Marginson S Deumert A Nyland C amp Ramia G (2007) Loneliness and international students An Australian study Journal of Studies in International Education 12(2) 148ndash180 doi1011771028315307299699

16 S RĘBISZ AND P GRYGIEL

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nloa

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ity o

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orid

a] a

t 13

12 2

2 O

ctob

er 2

017

Sherry M Thomas P amp Chui W H (2010) International students A vulnerable student population Higher Education 60(1) 33ndash46 doi101007s10734-009-9284-z

Simmel G (1950) The stranger In K Wolff (Trans) The sociology of Georg Simmel (pp 402ndash408) New York NY Free Press

Smith R A amp Khawaja N G (2011) A review of the acculturation experiences of international students International Journal of Intercultural Relations 35(6) 699ndash713 doi101016jijintrel201108004

Souto-Otero M Huisman J Beerkens M de Wit H amp Vujić S (2013) Barriers to international student mobility Evidence from the Erasmus Program Educational Researcher 42(2) 70ndash77 doi1031020013189x12466696

Szeptycki A (2016) Poland-Ukraine relations Revista UNISCIUNISCI Journal Enero-Sin mes 40 57ndash76 doi105209rev_runi2016n4051806

Terui S (2011) Second language learnersrsquo coping strategy in conversations with native speakers Journal of International Students 2(2) 168ndash183 doi101111j1751-2824201101533x

Twombly S B Salisbury M H Tumanut S D amp Klute P (2012) Study abroad in a new global century New York NY Wiley

University of Oxford International Strategy Office (2015) International trends in higher education 2015 Oxford UK University of Oxford

Ward C Bochner S amp Furnham A (2001) Theoretical approaches to culture shock In C Ward S Bochner amp A Furnham (Eds) The psychology of culture shock (pp 47ndash121) East Sussex UK Routledge

Ward C amp Kennedy A (1993) Wherersquos the culture in cross-cultural transition Comparative studies of sojourner adjustment Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 24 221ndash249 doi1011770022022193242006

Ward C amp Kus L (2012) Back to and beyond Berryrsquos basics The conceptualization operationalization and classification of acculturation International Journal of Intercultural Relations 36(4) 472ndash485 doi101016 jijintrel201202002

Weinmann S (1983) Cultural encounters of the stimulating kind Personal development through culture shock Department of Humanities Michigan Technological University Houghton MI

Williams T R (2005) Exploring the impact of study abroad on studentsrsquo intercultural communication skills Adapta-bility and sensitivity Journal of Studies in International Education 9(4) 356ndash371 doi1011771028315305277681

Willgerodt M A (2003) Using focus groups to develop culturally relevant instruments Western Journal of Nursing Research 25(7) 798ndash814 doi1011770193945903256708

Yeh C J amp Inose M (2003) International studentsrsquo reported English fluency social support satisfaction and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress Counselling Psychology Quarterly 16(1) 15ndash28 doi101080 0951507031000114058

FEARS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY FOREIGN STUDENTS 17

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