This qualitative study sought to understand how living and studying in the United States affected the personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and careers of a group of female students from the Republic of Georgia. The researcher traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to interview twenty alumni of U.S. study programs (on undergraduate and graduate study levels) individually. Jack Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory and David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory provide the theoretical framework for the study.
The findings revealed that living and studying in the U.S. matured the participants personally as they got to experience the challenges that accompany living independently in an unfamiliar environment, which in turn boosted their sense of self and efficacy. Also, the study participants commonly expressed that the U.S. experience taught them to appreciate difference and diversity firsthand, and enabled them to recognize — and then dismiss — stereotypes they had held about people they had never met. They also described the experience of personal interactions with people of different nationalities as eye-opening and invaluable. Living away from their home country naturally brought about changes in the participants’ frames of reference by forcing them to critically reflect on their prior knowledge and consciously transform their attitudes and actions. Furthermore, the participants greatly attributed their successful careers to the knowledge and skills gained while studying in the U.S.
","abstract_html":"<p>This qualitative study sought to understand how living and studying in the United States affected the personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and careers of a group of female students from the Republic of Georgia. The researcher traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to interview twenty alumni of U.S. study programs (on undergraduate and graduate study levels) individually. Jack Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory and David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory provide the theoretical framework for the study.</p> <p>The findings revealed that living and studying in the U.S. matured the participants personally as they got to experience the challenges that accompany living independently in an unfamiliar environment, which in turn boosted their sense of self and efficacy. Also, the study participants commonly expressed that the U.S. experience taught them to appreciate difference and diversity firsthand, and enabled them to recognize — and then dismiss — stereotypes they had held about people they had never met. They also described the experience of personal interactions with people of different nationalities as eye-opening and invaluable. Living away from their home country naturally brought about changes in the participants’ frames of reference by forcing them to critically reflect on their prior knowledge and consciously transform their attitudes and actions. Furthermore, the participants greatly attributed their successful careers to the knowledge and skills gained while studying in the U.S.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bitsadze, Nino"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education Leadership, Management and Policy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Joseph Stetar, PhD","Eunyoung Kim, PhD","Rebecca Cox, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-05-17T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-05-17T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:32:52Z","subjects":["international education","study abroad outcomes","foreign students in the U.S.","Georgian students in the U.S.","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Higher Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/1979","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Joseph Stetar, PhD","Eunyoung Kim, PhD","Rebecca Cox, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bitsadze, Nino"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-07-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education Leadership, Management and Policy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["international education","study abroad outcomes","foreign students in the U.S.","Georgian students in the U.S.","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Higher Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/1979"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This qualitative study sought to understand how living and studying in the United States affected the personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and careers of a group of female students from the Republic of Georgia. The researcher traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to interview twenty alumni of U.S. study programs (on undergraduate and graduate study levels) individually. Jack Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory and David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory provide the theoretical framework for the study.
The findings revealed that living and studying in the U.S. matured the participants personally as they got to experience the challenges that accompany living independently in an unfamiliar environment, which in turn boosted their sense of self and efficacy. Also, the study participants commonly expressed that the U.S. experience taught them to appreciate difference and diversity firsthand, and enabled them to recognize — and then dismiss — stereotypes they had held about people they had never met. They also described the experience of personal interactions with people of different nationalities as eye-opening and invaluable. Living away from their home country naturally brought about changes in the participants’ frames of reference by forcing them to critically reflect on their prior knowledge and consciously transform their attitudes and actions. Furthermore, the participants greatly attributed their successful careers to the knowledge and skills gained while studying in the U.S.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Study of U.S. Education Outcomes for Female Students from the Republic of Georgia"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Joseph Stetar, PhD","Eunyoung Kim, PhD","Rebecca Cox, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Bitsadze, Nino"],"dc:date.available":["2014-07-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This qualitative study sought to understand how living and studying in the United States affected the personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and careers of a group of female students from the Republic of Georgia. The researcher traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to interview twenty alumni of U.S. study programs (on undergraduate and graduate study levels) individually. Jack Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory and David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory provide the theoretical framework for the study.
The findings revealed that living and studying in the U.S. matured the participants personally as they got to experience the challenges that accompany living independently in an unfamiliar environment, which in turn boosted their sense of self and efficacy. Also, the study participants commonly expressed that the U.S. experience taught them to appreciate difference and diversity firsthand, and enabled them to recognize — and then dismiss — stereotypes they had held about people they had never met. They also described the experience of personal interactions with people of different nationalities as eye-opening and invaluable. Living away from their home country naturally brought about changes in the participants’ frames of reference by forcing them to critically reflect on their prior knowledge and consciously transform their attitudes and actions. Furthermore, the participants greatly attributed their successful careers to the knowledge and skills gained while studying in the U.S.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/1979"],"dc:subject":["international education","study abroad outcomes","foreign students in the U.S.","Georgian students in the U.S.","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Higher Education"],"dc:title":["A Study of U.S. Education Outcomes for Female Students from the Republic of Georgia"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education Leadership, Management and Policy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:32:52Z"}