Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to challenge the Western education system to better understand the needs of international students, particularly from Asian countries. Higher education has become a big business, and many schools have popped up to meet the demand. North America's traditional universities are now well and truly dependent upon international students to fund full programs, and universities have come to rely on international dollars. International students are looking to the West for high-quality education, but may arrive in the West unprepared to face the challenge of writing advanced academic essays.
TopCanada’S Higher Education System
Canada’s elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educational systems are a provincial and territorial responsibility, which results in regional autonomy with differences between regions. In Canada, no federal department of education exists, except for responsibility for military and Indigenous studies. International enrollment in public higher learning and stand-alone international schools encompasses public/private institutions such as language schools, transnational institutions with satellite campuses, career/technical institutes, community colleges, and traditional public universities; hence, the provinces are responsible for administering international higher education. For example, in British Columbia (BC), institutions are required to meet and hold the Education Quality Assurance (EQA), a designation necessary to host international students. However, Mohamedbhai (2017) states that the boundaries between public institutions and private providers of higher education have become blurred regarding quality, governance, and funding, with some non-traditional institutions making their own rules and ignoring compulsory standards. The BC Degree Quality Assurance Board (DQAB) is responsible for ensuring that all degree programs at higher learning institutions meet high-quality criteria; however, the sheer amount of stand-alone international start-ups seriously challenges oversight.
Key Terms in this Chapter
English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL): International graduate-level students. Their functional English meets entrance criteria. Many students also speak additional languages beyond their mother tongue. Hence, their abilities can be multilingual.
Core Competencies: The specific skills required to write academic essays that have been documented in primary research studies listed in the document.
Advanced Academic Essay Writing: Refers to the ability to structure and write an essay at the master level in any academic discipline, usually following APA standards.
Steady-State: An internal feeling of consistency between one’s sense of identity, culture, values, and lived experience.
Asian: The whole Asian continent; North Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, Middle Asia, and Southwest Asia.
International Students: In this context, refer to graduate students who have travelled from the Asian continent to the North American continent and have already received their bachelor’s degree in Asia.
Writing Across the Discipline: Writing experts (e.g., writing centres) teaching writing skills generally and not specific to a subject matter, which can create a divorce between subject matter and write for advanced writers.
Writing Within the Discipline: Instructors teaching advanced academic writing within their subject knowledge, and writing is embedded within their course and discipline.