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International Conference on Information

iConference 2020: Sustainable Digital Communities pp 198–208Cite as

Saudi International Students’ Perceptions of Their Transition to the UK and the Impact of Social Media

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12051))

Abstract

In their transition to a new country, international students often feel lost, anxious or stressed. Saudi students in the UK in particular may face further challenges due to the cultural, social and religious differences that they experience. There is a lot of evidence that social media play a crucial role in this experience. By interviewing 12 Saudi students from different cities in the UK, the aim of this study is to investigate how they perceive their transition to the UK and how social media is involved. The analysis indicates that Saudi students’ perceptions of transition tend to fall in to one of two markedly different camps. Some students see transition as an opportunity to detach themselves from their home country and to engage with the new society. Those students turn to social media as a tool allowing them to build bridges with the new society. Other students feel less enthusiastic to make a full engagement with the UK society. Those students find social media as a good tool to maintain connections and links with family and friends in their home country.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Annotations have been included near to the students’ handwritings to make them easier to read.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Anas Alsuhaibani, Andrew Cox, Frank Hopfgartner & Xin Zhao

  2. Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Engineering and Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia

    Anas Alsuhaibani

Authors
  1. Anas Alsuhaibani
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  2. Andrew Cox
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  3. Frank Hopfgartner
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  4. Xin Zhao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Anas Alsuhaibani , Andrew Cox , Frank Hopfgartner or Xin Zhao .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

    Anneli Sundqvist

  2. OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

    Gerd Berget

  3. University of Boras, Boras, Sweden

    Jan Nolin

  4. OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

    Kjell Ivar Skjerdingstad

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Alsuhaibani, A., Cox, A., Hopfgartner, F., Zhao, X. (2020). Saudi International Students’ Perceptions of Their Transition to the UK and the Impact of Social Media. In: Sundqvist, A., Berget, G., Nolin, J., Skjerdingstad, K. (eds) Sustainable Digital Communities. iConference 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12051. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-43686-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-43687-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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