Samenvatting

The research was designed for international students who followed the European Studies four-year
English program at The Hague University, as an increasing number of international students are
coming to receive their higher education in the Netherlands. Foreign students need to adapt socially
and academically to their host country, and the degree to which they are successful in adjusting and
adapting will determine their stress levels. The purpose of the research was to identify the degree of
help that the European Studies program at The Hague University contributed in the adaptation
process for full-time international students with a non-Dutch cultural background, and whether or not
there is a gap or missing points between what foreign students expect in terms of support and what
the European Studies program actually offers students to deal with internationalization difficulties.
The research started with the central question: to what degree is the European Studies program at
The Hague University equipped to deal with the adaptation process of the full-time international
student who has a non-Dutch cultural background? In order to present a deeper understanding of the
central question, sub-points were made afterward and divided into two chapters, and the answer to
the research questions was formulated by providing clear definitions of the key terms in help with
literature and analyzing the outcomes from both questionnaire and interviews.
Results first show that different cultural contexts and Dutch language are considered to the factors
that mostly affect non-Dutch students in ES program when entering the Netherlands, and students
show different outcomes and levels of adaptation socially and academically. These dissimilarities are
likely to be linked with the divergence of two cultures, that is, individualism and collectivism. Following
the role of local students, it could be argued that Dutch students are inclined to help their foreign
peers with non-academic related problem, while if there is a problem related to the study, school and
study programs have shown their value. It appears that the majority of students are satisfied with the
service provided by school. Also, the ES program has not only organized a wide range of intercultural
events for both domestic students and foreign students to interact, thereby making new friends and
learning different culture, but also assigned a supervisor for each class and offered Dutch language
courses, helping non-Dutch students academically. The report concludes that overall the European
Studies program did a good job in assisting international students during the adaptation process, even
though there are still some activities that cannot meet international students’ expectation. The
recommendations for the European Studies program are: to build a ‘mobility office’ for all
international students; to provide Dutch language courses throughout the four years of study; and for
international students it is suggested to improve their intercultural learning competence, as learning
positive features from another culture could be a feasible approach to better adapting to the new
environment.