Dina Ragab, an NYIT M.B.A. student, participated in Dr. Amr Swid and Professor Joshua Bienstock’s funded research. The research, titled, “‘International Students’ Adjustment Process to U.S. Universities,” is funded by the Mallah Foundation.

When discussing the research and her role, Dina states, “The research is designed to take place during two academic years, this academic year we are focused on preparing the conceptual model and doing the necessary research to identify all the important variables and measurements to build the research model. My responsibilities include, but are not limited to researching and help in writing the paper and conceptual model so far. Starting this summer, we will start collecting the data needed.”

The research involved three innovative conceptual models under these three different categories: A personality Approach, A Cultural Approach,and Utilizing a Campus Mediation Approach. Dina states, “We have designed the paper in a way that there are three different variables and approaches. Dr. Swid, Professor Bienstock, and myself are going to each present a topic from the research paper in three different conferences. I will be presenting ‘International Students’ Adjustment Process in the U.S.: A cultural approach’ in the IABE conference this spring break.” Two of these received “best paper award” namely, in the “American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS) conference, Las Vegas and “International Academy of Business and Economics” conference, Florida, both were on March, 2017.

Dr. Swid states, “The study will determine the most preferred resources to improve the international students’ adjustment, and suggest concrete methods to effectively integrate foreign students into classrooms, and their quality of life while residing in the U.S. The research outcomes are expected to be beneficial for students to improve their adjustment, universities might improve the attraction, and retention rates of international students which will result in more international students coming to the U.S.”

It has been a positive experience for all, and Dina has expressed what a great opportunity this has been for her, and how grateful she is to have been able to work with two great professors, Dr. Swid and Dr. Bienstock, within the School of Management at NYIT.

1. Swid, A. and Bienstock, J. (2017) “International Students adjustment to U.S. Universities: A personality Approach”. International Conference on Innovational Challenges in Social Sciences, Humanities, Management and Business Studies (ICSHMB); March 21-22, 2017; Casablanca, Morocco. (Running for Best paper Award)

2. Ragab, D., Bienstock, J, Swid, A. (2017) “International Student adjustment to U.S. Universities: A Cultural approach”. International Academy of Business and Economics (IABE); March 19-23, 2017; West Palm Beach, FL. (Best paper Award)

3. Bienstock, J. and Swid, A. (2017) “International Student adjustment to U.S. Universities: Utilizing a Campus Mediation Approach”. American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS) Annual Conference 2017; March 23-26, 2017; Las Vegas (Best
paper Award)

By Konstance Teleisha