ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY OF OVERSEAS STUDENTS IN A MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT: CASE STUDY OF PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

President University is one of International Universities in Indonesia. It creates a multicultural environment because beside the local students, it has overseas students. The overseas students should be able to adapt with a new environment there. This study discusses about the level of overseas students' adaptation at President University based on six stages of Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity by Bennett. Through this research, people especially overseas students would be able to know about their level of adaptation, so they can do something to increase their level of intercultural sensitivity. This study is a quantitative research which uses Factor Analysis to analysis the dominant level of Intercultural Sensitivity. Data collection uses self-construct questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to 60 overseas students in campus and dormitory as the respondents. Based on the analysis, the researcher found that overseas students in President University are in Ethnocentric Stage, exactly on Defense Level of Intercultural Sensitivity. In Defense, one's own culture is experienced as the only good one, and cultural difference is denigrated. Because overseas students in President University are in Defense Level of Intercultural Sensitivity, they have a tendency to construct defense against those differences. They prefer living and studying only with their ethnic group who have the same culture with them. This study suggests to overseas students to be open-minded to new idea, openness to change and have ability to perceive and interpret the other's actions through a broad cultural lens. Not only that, it is important for overseas students to learn the local language in order to increase their adaptability. Management staffs of President University can take a role to prepare the overseas students with knowledge of local cultures.