Supporting International Student Integration

Supporting international students as they integrate into the Hungarian higher education system, while promoting their mental wellbeing, is a complex developmental task that calls for specialist expertise.

Forward-looking higher education institutions increasingly recognise that improving student satisfaction and providing structured academic support can reduce avoidable dropout. Well-organised support services developed as part of an institutional strategy can strengthen reputation, facilitate student recruitment over the medium term, and increase student loyalty and their sense of belonging.

Like their domestic peers, international students arrive with different expectations, needs, ambitions and skill gaps. Many enter university directly after secondary school, with limited life experience and local knowledge. Early setbacks and the absence of personalised institutional support can readily give rise to alienation and a lasting sense of disappointment.

To address these challenges, we offer comprehensive or modular institutional support packages and complementary training. These can start before students arrive, with a range of measures that strengthen their sense of security and provide a supportive safety net. Following arrival, we provide personalised assistance linked to the institution’s orientation activities, building on each student’s strengths while taking individual difficulties into account.

Our student support programme developed in 2018

SAM-buddy is a peer integration programme combining traditional face-to-face peer support with eight weeks of intensive, individual mentoring and a digital platform designed around the academic commitments of the students who act as peer mentors.

The programme can mobilise the student community while offering structured guidance, opportunities to make friends and meaningful personal connections for as many as 150–200 incoming first-year students as they seek answers to their initial questions.

It offers institutional partners a cost-effective approach, reducing the burden of organising the entire programme or maintaining one or more dedicated staff positions. The former website referred to a separate programme brochure; we will link to it only once the document has been verified.

Further developments

Establishing, organising and operating a peer-based academic catch-up and tutoring facility, commonly called a Tutoring Center.

What else might institutions need? – Additional services

Programmes to improve institutional operations and reputation

• Developing a coherent strategy and concept for student support services
• Student pre-screening and needs assessments using institution-specific surveys and focus groups
• Managing communication and branding elements designed to support particular aspects of student integration
• Training and preparing academic administration staff
• Establishing and managing alumni systems
• Providing expert consultation and coaching for institutional leaders and project managers

Direct student development and support

• Establishing and operating a student counselling centre
• Facilitating interactive group discussions and short presentations supporting integration
• Assistance with everyday living arrangements and relocation counselling for international students
• Creating support groups around specific psychological concerns, such as alcohol problems or abuse
• Individual and group study-skills training and courses tailored to the institution and degree programme
• Creating and guiding study groups – see www.studygroups.hu
• Establishing and operating a Tutoring Center for individual and group peer tutoring and academic development
• Designing and operating peer mentoring systems
• Preparing individual academic career plans and professional development plans
• Supporting inactive or suspended students to return to study and prepare for outstanding examinations

Supporting teaching staff

An often-overlooked element of a mental health-informed student support philosophy is consultation and development for teaching staff. Recognising this need, we provide workshops on self-awareness and engagement-related subjects relevant to teaching.