Culture Shock and the Adaptation Process of Rural Students at Universities in Dhaka

Abstract

In recent years, due to economic development and globalization, there is a dramatic increase of rural students who are moving towards Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, in order to get higher education in various universities. Study found that after arriving Dhaka most of them experience varieties of culture shock. It causes stress, fatigue, loss of appetite and identity crisis problem that appears difficult to them to adapt with the new environment. However, the students hailed from rural area adopt some strategies to cope with the cultural distance and at last they do adjust with that new culture. The study is carried out to know the extent of culture shock experienced by rural students at different private universities situated at Dhaka city. It also suggests some strategies for the rural students to deal with cultural shock. The data used for this study has been drawn from in-depth interviews conducted on the rural students of ten private universities located in Dhaka City.