A Journey to the West : Designing for Cross Cultural Application to Higher Education

What are international prospective students’ perceptions of American universities and colleges when they apply for studying abroad? What are the common concerns that they have during the application process? This thesis aims to help international students overcome the cultural differences between their home education system and the American higher education system when applying for graduate programs in the United States. Through the course of synthesizing the findings from current literature on international student recruitment in the American higher education, user research, and participatory design, a service system is designed that guides international students towards a more motivated attitude when applying abroad, and provides a system of tools that supports their decision-making process.