The sociocultural adjustment of Chinese graduate students at Korean universities: A qualitative study

•The theoretical framework of this study builds on the sociocultural framework.•The analysis employed the snowballing and convenience sampling methods.•This qualitative inquiry explores Chinese graduate students’ perceptions.•The four main themes emerged from the in-depth interview sessions.

Although 21% of all Chinese students studying at Korean universities are in graduate schools (Korean Educational Development Institute, 2008), little is known about their sociocultural adjustment. This study explores Chinese graduate students’ perceptions regarding their sociocultural adjustment experiences and capture the essence of the influences on their sociocultural adjustment during their early cross-cultural transition. The study is based on interview data from nine Chinese graduate students who attended three universities in Seoul in 2009. The model of sociocultural adjustment is employed as a conceptual framework to explore the perceptions of Chinese graduate students regarding their sociocultural adjustment. The four main themes emerged from the in-depth interview sessions were perceived cultural distance, language competency, low level of interaction with host nationals, and biased stereotypes.