Exploring Research Motivations on Academic Adjustment and Success Among International Graduate Students in Engineering Disciplines Across U.S. Universities: A Meta-Synthesis

This (research full paper) meta-synthesis explores why researchers study the challenges faced by international graduate students in STEM education at U.S. universities. Despite their crucial role in diversifying the academic and technological landscape with their unique experiences and perspectives, these students face challenges adapting to unfamiliar academic and cultural settings. Unfortunately, existing literature often overlooks the specific experiences of engineering students, particularly those from non-English speaking backgrounds. Research often generalizes international student experiences or focuses only on English-speaking contexts. Without enough support, the talent pipeline is in danger, which is worrying because international graduate students are vital for maintaining diversity and fueling economic growth and innovation in the United States. Understanding researchers' motivations in exploring this field is important to grasp its significance and identify areas necessitating further investigation. Through a systematic review of existing literature, this study aims to uncover the reasons behind research on academic adjustment, support mechanisms, and success rates among international graduate students in the United States This work-in-progress scholarship of research is guided by the question of what motivates current research on academic adjustments, support, and success among international graduate students in Science and Engineering programs within the United States. We identified 38 articles from a pool of 14,765 articles from online databases using our inclusion-exclusion criterion. Each article then underwent a thorough evaluation based on our selection criteria and quality evaluation rubric to ensure the rigor and validity of the final selection process. We analyzed the data and categorized the motivations by themes by using an inductive approach, identifying themes based on what we observed in each paper. Theoretical frameworks such as social cognitive theory and acculturation theory are then applied to discuss our findings and analysis. We used this theory because it shed light on where we might develop this research. Our findings suggest that understanding the intersection of acculturation theory and social cognitive theory can illuminate the institutional support and psychological factors influencing international graduate student's academic success in science and engineering fields. We identify three key motivation areas: Institutional, Social/Cultural, and Psychological. We observe a variety of motivations driving work in this field, such as addressing issues like racism and discrimination, understanding how cultural experiences affect success, and exploring new ideas like resilience to support students' adjustment. These reasons push us to tackle problems such as racism, learn how culture affects success, and help students stay strong. For a more comprehensive understanding, we suggest combining ideas from different theories to understand what helps international graduate students succeed. We think it's important to study more kinds of students and make research methods better. This can help us make a fair environment for everyone in universities.