The successful adjustment of international students to the new environment depends on their ability to interact effectively with the external environment. However, the literature has not yet provided a clear understanding of how the support provided by host universities affects the academic achievement and cultural adaptation of international students, particularly in longitudinal studies involving students from different countries and regions in China. Based on Student-centered Learning Engagement framework, this study developed and tested a model composed of three variables—university support, academic achievement and cultural adaptation, and collected data from South Asian students at Chinese universities from 2017 to 2019 through questionnaires. The findings revealed that university support significantly affected cultural adaptation through academic achievement. The study suggests that Chinese universities should provide appropriate levels of support for international students to achieve positive academic outcomes, and to better understand and adapt to the universities, societies, and cultures.

The empirical research has not provided definitive answers to questions about how to assess and report academic adjustment and whether or not it influences psychological and sociocultural adjustments. This study is a longitudinal investigation into the relationship between academic and psychological adjustment of international students from South Asian countries in a cross-cultural learning context who partied in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) teacher education programs in Chinese universities. Using Zun's Self-Rating Depression Scale and the self-developed Scale of Academic Adaptation, the first test in December 2017 (T1) and the second in December 2019 (T2) were conducted to measure depression, learning motivation, learning behavior, learning efficacy, academic achievement, and satisfaction of South Asian students. The paper discovered significant positive correlations between five variables, indicating an interaction between the five aspects showing how involved and effective overseas students were in learning in China and a cross-lagged relationship between depression and academic adjustment. This longitudinal empirical study of international students in China aimed to help expand the application of cross-cultural adjustment theory in different educational backgrounds, and provide diverse samples and methods different from the traditional western perspective.

Information about students’ learning is necessary for educational decision making. Therefore,  classroom assessment, comprehended as the procedure in which students’ reactions to spontaneous activities are  used to draw inferences about their knowledge and skills assumes a significant role in education. In higher  education, students’ learning is more impacted by their originations of the instructive condition than by the real  instructive practices. In China, which has a long history of examination-oriented education, an assessment reform  in basic and higher education was kicked off by the Ministry of Education as part of the New Curriculum Reform  in 2001. This paper reviews literature on students’ upheld conceptions of assessment and then reports a study into  Chinese students’ conception of assessment. Literature reviewed revealed that students conceive of assessment in  at least four major ways (i.e., assessment makes students accountable; assessment is irrelevant because it is bad or unfair; assessment improves the quality of learning; and assessment is enjoyable). The findings of the study  also indicated that students conceive assessment as being for improvement of learning and assigning grades.