Collegiate Students From Other Nations Need Help

International Student Concerns for Administration Were I the Director of the International Student Office at a college or university, there are numerous things that I could do to prepare for the various crisis situations that occur. Perhaps the most salient of these pertains to the longstanding and recent trend of sexual violence enacted against women on collegiate campuses. In addition to the lengthy tradition of such occurrences, there has been a spat of instances of such activity within the past year on college campuses.

Although it might not be possible to prevent any acts of rape or data rape from occurring ever again on my particular campus, it would likely behoove both myself and the international students on campus to go over some of the statistics and situations in which these incidences do occur.

For instance, international students might not necessarily have knowledge about the recent trend of sexual violence enacted against women, and may need to hear caveats about fraternities, sororities, football games, and other social activities which have frequently resulted in instances of rape. Additionally, such students should also become well acclimated to the role that intoxicants can play in such situations, realize that the substances that they imbibe can play a critical role in their ability to think and react in unwanted circumstances.

Another very important thing that I can do to prepare for disasters is to acclimate myself with the various laws for immigration that pertain to students. Many of these laws relate to the particular form of student visa that a student has accessed to study abroad. Still, there are particulars regarding issues of working either on or off campus, dependents, and finance that are extremely nuanced and largely rigid in nature.

In addition to studying myself to learn some of these laws and which of their provisions are most likely to affect the student demographics in my particular department, I should also task certain individuals on my staff with learning such legislation and knowing which resources to utilize for which crises might arise from this situation.

Another issue which has the potential for creating a crises within the International Student Office and which I would need to prepare myself for is some form of disaster which might take place within the native country of immigrant students. There really is no shortage of such disasters, which have the potential to include natural disasters, political turmoil, health outbreaks, and others. It is best to anticipate such disasters and to accumulate resources which might be of value to students in the event of such unfortunate occurrences.

Some resources might include information about the consulate or the domestic body representing the home nation of the student. Additionally, it is imperative that the International Student Office keep up-to-date information about where its various students come from. It would likely help to stratify this information according to continents or possibly.