A case study of personal adjustment patterns of mobile international branch campus Chinese students during short-term study abroad

This paper investigated three transnational higher education students’ study abroad experience. These undergraduate students began their studies in an English medium international branch campus (IBC) in China, spent a semester studying overseas and then returned to the IBC to continue their studies. The IBC experience functions as a transition period where the students can familiarise themselves with Western academic culture, practices, expectations and conventions and improve their English at the same time in preparation for their future postgraduate study. The study examined how participants managed the various adaptation demands in the social and academic aspects of their lives. The research instruments were mainly monthly interviews and weekly diary forms during their study abroad. The data gathering period was July 2024 to March 2025. The IBC’s source university is a Russell Group university in the United Kingdom (UK), and offers study abroad opportunities. Two participants chose Australia as part of the international study abroad programme and one in the UK via the inter-campus exchange programme. There is a scarcity of research of study abroad experience of IBC students and thus, this study fills this gap by focusing on mobile IBC students’ adjustment patterns and perceptions of their experience during their study abroad.