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International students said they were sometimes less willing to actively engage with the class during seminars. GTFs in PMSR also reported the problem of language use and its impact on class engagement, as students from the same language background would work together and use their first language rather than English to discuss the class content.

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Chinese students said that they were more likely to interact with peers from similar backgrounds during classes, sometimes making it more difficult to engage with the class content and use English effectively in academic contexts. Connections between some Chinese and home students during classes was difficult.

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Some students wanted more pastoral support and compared their experiences to other UK universities. They felt that in the BASS, personal tutors do not always clearly understand their problems and therefore cannot provide effective help. They also expressed a preference for getting such support from senior peers (e.g., final-year students) and GTFs with similar backgrounds (e.g., international postgraduate students in the UK).

Focus Group Extracts:

"...my friend is at Durham University..They (the personal tutor) will ask you once a week on a regular basis and feel that there will be timely feedback on your study..."

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International students were keen to embrace the use of technologies and tools in social research. They wanted to learn quantitative methodologies more systematically and intensively and suggested a dedicated teaching module of statistics and tools (R, Python).

Focus group extracts

"Even if you are a liberal arts student, there are many liberal arts students who switch to coding, but our major seems to be completely indifferent to this social trend as if we are completely unwilling to connect with it."

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In PMSR, international students were more interested in quantitative methodologies including being trained in using quantitative technologies and tools. Many regard quants as a crucial skill necessary for future academic and professional journeys. Relatedly, some international students were less willing to engage with more theoretical qualitative readings and class discussion.

A point raised by a participant related to having some input into the module from practitioners using social research in their workplaces.

Focus group extracts

“I think that learning some public policy knowledge (in PMSR) could be helpful, or to be more precise, to learn some very cutting-edge courses jointly delivered by social workers or NGO members."

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Drawing more systematically on key concepts and theories of research methodologies and ethics. The module's future teaching plan could give more specific attention to enhancing international students' understanding of the curriculum during the introductory sessions and perhaps offer more opportunities to contribute to research projects.

Focus Group Extracts:

"I think compared with my domestic sociology classmates, we have too few opportunities to practice and accumulate projects in this area. And in fact, our curriculum is very theoretical.”

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Connections between PMSR and Dissertation

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Connections between PMSR and Dissertation

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Designing and conducting research in PMSR has been helpful for students' in making connections to their dissertations. International students, were especially interested in connecting PMSR to social problems in their home countries. Future teaching could emphasise this connection, which could further enhance the research quality of the final dissertation.

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More dedicated pastoral and peer support

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More dedicated pastoral and peer support

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Create more spaces for providing international students with pastoral and peer support in PMSR and BASS. This may require recruiting GTFs with more diverse backgrounds and distributing more working hours to the inclusion of international students.

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pastoral support for international students

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Drawing on the experiences and reflections shared by students and members of the teaching team, we will produce resources to support the development of teaching PMSR within a diverse international student community that can be adapted to BASS's broader curriculum.

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GTFs were aware that some international students were often cheating in quizzes and in the summative assignment. They used AI to answer quiz questions and generate text for the final report.

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International students said that their high school education did not always include an introduction to social research, especially in the Western context. This can make it more difficult for them to have a working understanding of research methodologies and related key concepts.

Focus group extracts:

"After arriving here, I found that it was difficult to understand many curriculum components, and the reading was also difficult and abstract."

"I think some courses should be placed in the freshman year and should not be as difficult as the freshman year. And you ask us to write a 4,000-word homework in the second semester of our freshman year. I think it is unreasonable, and I don't like it very much."

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Some students talked about their increasing AI use in their learning. They thought AI worked well to help them clarify areas of confusion and get clear interpretations of terms they struggled to understand. Students are open to understanding the clear guidance on academic integrity regarding AI use.

"My AI usage rate has been increasing day by day since ChatGPT was released...it will be difficult to complete it (an assignment) without the assistance of AI. I let GPT summarise the literature framework, and then I had a lot of knowledge that I didn’t know. I asked it, as I said that I was stuck here. ‘Can you provide me with some new ideas?’ This is what I provide academically. Really great help. It is like there is another person who is at work aiding you.“