Review 1 Units 1–7, exercise 1

As a student studying for a master's in education, I have a particular interest in the student experience of education at tertiary level. I completed my undergraduate studies at a US university where I graduated with a BA in education. I came to the UK to pursue my studies on a taught MA programme. During my first few weeks, I experienced a real 'culture shock', not just at living in a new country, but also because of what I realized is a very different approach to university education.

One of the significant differences is the degree of specialization within the two systems. In the USA, undergraduate students take a broad range of subjects in their first one or two years, with an emphasis on developing a range of knowledge. So it's not uncommon to choose courses from a mix of disciplines, even combining arts or social science subjects with natural sciences or engineering. It's only later that you choose your 'major', or main subject. In the UK, by contrast, students specialize very early on, selecting a specific discipline right from the start and exploring that field in depth over the course of their three or four years of undergraduate study. This means that students come out at the end of their degree with a more detailed knowledge of their chosen area.

The second thing I noticed was the degree of independence required of students. When I started my MA programme, it seemed as if I didn't have much work to do. During my first degree, we were given a set reading text or an assignment to complete after almost every class. My master's programme, though, consists mainly of lectures and seminars with apparently very little homework. We have only one assignment per course to be submitted at the end of term, and a final exam. I soon realized, however, that instead of setting specific homework tasks, my tutors were expecting students to do a lot of extra work independently – going to the library and reading around the subject for ourselves.

Increasing numbers of international students are moving around the world to study, and the USA and the UK are the top two destinations (British Council, 2014). With this and my own experiences as a student in these two very different academic cultures in mind, I decided to focus on differing student experiences of higher education as the topic of my master's dissertation.

I plan to conduct a study to investigate the experiences of international students at both UK and US universities. I will select a sample of students from the two target populations initially to complete questionnaires. Then I hope to follow up with one-to-one interviews, conducted either face to face or via Skype. Of course, I have to acknowledge the limitations of my research: a small sample will not necessarily be representative of such a huge student body. Nevertheless, I hope that my findings can still contribute to a better understanding of student experiences in a globalized educational context.