Higher education institutions in Europe have accomplished their internalization initiatives by increasing the number of student exchanges with different universities, either within or outside Europe. Often students travel abroad for the purpose of education or to seek better employment opportunities. However, student’s migration is mainly due to several policies that promote mobility programs between universities both inside and outside Europe (Carmona, Van der Zee, & Van Oudenhoven, 2013). In particular, the former university exchanges facilitate encounters where interculturality is possible enriches both students and teachers, learning other ways of thinking, acting or perceiving culture diversity (De-Juan, Parra, & Beltrán, 2014).

International experiences in education enhance students’ knowledge about cultures and promote positive attitudes towards cultural diversity amongst students in particular, and the society in general. According to Aguaded and Pozo (2009) foreign education enhances knowledge, cultural relationships and communication skills. However, there is a need to develop appropriate integration strategies and support for international and local students in the new educational and diverse environment at the university classroom. According to the British Council (2014), “international students need the support of UK students and faculty to help address the sociocultural and academic challenges they face; the relationships are symbiotic and in fact, the responsibilities of the involved parties are not mutually exclusive”.

In line with Medve, Franco, Gao, and Yang (2013), international students often have problems with listening to a speaker or lecturer due to their limited vocabulary, and the fact that the speaker speaks too fast or in an accent or dialect. Teachers should be aware of those difficulties faced by exchange and international students, especially those who teach the first year’s international class. For better students performance, the teachers have responsibility to make some adjustment when they give lectures or talk to international students in and out of classrooms. Ward (2001) based on a study of New Zealand secondary schools, explained the advantages and disadvantages of international students in their school using the perspective of their teachers. The major plus factor was an increased cross-cultural exposure whereas the pressure arising from limited language ability was the most problematic issue faced by the teachers.

As Ward (2001) mentioned, the potential of international students to change both the content and the process of education has received considerable attention in literature as they bring an international perspective to classroom discussions, challenge and encourage teachers to consider new methods of instruction that fit the academic purpose. In the same context, Bista (2011) indicated that as teachers of international students, it is important to consider cross cultural perspectives in teaching and grading. Also, there is a need to provide an atmosphere to raise curiosity, and facilitate that international students are encouraged to speak up in class (Medve, Franco, Gao, & Yang, 2013).

Kudo (2015) interestingly indicated that many studies in Japan have reported difficulty in interactions between international and domestic students. Using an investigation of Colvin, Volet, and Fozdar (2014) in Australia, the nature of intercultural exchange is due by examining ways in which each individual co-creates meaning with other individuals. In addition, these studies imply that “if the students and the staff at intercultural campuses could reconstruct the meaning of intercultural exchange, some presently dominant and  institutionalized discourses that may have limited their consciousness and imagination of interculturality (e.g. essentialism, nationalistic sentiment) could be transformed into more productive interaction and learning” (p. 3).

Therefore, the present study focuses primarily on determining the academic support international students received by teachers and local students in classroom. In addition, the study aims to analyze the best strategies teachers need to implement for  international students adaptation.

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