Homesick students need help from universities, study says

By Jack Grove. Universities should ensure they have strategies to stop students feeling homesick as they begin their studies, experts say. While most students currently arriving at campuses for freshers’ week will be relishing their new life away from home, many will also suffer intense homesickness, according to a report published in the Journal of American College Health, titled “Homesickness and Adjustment in University Students”.
Adapting to a new lifestyle, culture, environment and even a foreign language are likely to play some part in homesickness, as will social anxiety, the challenge of making new friends and the pressure to succeed in academic, athletic or artistic pursuits, say the report’s authors. More...