Understanding the challenges of international student integration: A qualitative study of faculty and administrator perspectives in Turkish higher education

Türkiye's strategic geopolitical position has made it a growing destination for international students, yet higher education institutions face persistent challenges in supporting their integration. This qualitative case study examined the perspectives of 20 participants (13 faculty members and 7 administrators) from two public universities regarding institutional challenges and support strategies related to international student integration. Employing semi-structured interviews analyzed through thematic analysis, four interconnected challenge domains were identified: (i) language and communication barriers, (ii) academic adjustment, (iii) social adaptation, and (iv) legal and bureaucratic obstacles. Findings reveal that while faculty and administrators have developed a range of responsive practices, many remain informal and dependent on individual initiative rather than anchored in coordinated institutional policy. The study underscores the need for equity-oriented, system-level internationalization strategies in non-Anglophone contexts, and contributes to understanding integration as an organizational process mediated by institutional actors rather than solely a student-level adjustment challenge. © 2026 The Authors.