EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SUPPORT IN BRITISH UNIVERSITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

The article examines the evolution of social and academic support for international students within the higher education system of the United Kingdom through the interconnected analytical dimensions of belonging, agency, and strategic governance. Over the past decades, international student mobility has become a structurally significant component of British higher education, influencing institutional governance, internationalisation strategies, and pedagogical practices. In this context, international students are increasingly perceived not merely as recipients of administrative services or sources of economic revenue, but as active participants in academic communities whose integration, wellbeing, and long-term trajectories require coordinated institutional support. Drawing on a historical and pedagogical analysis, the study proposes a periodisation of the development of international student support in the UK higher education system and identifies three major stages: organisational-foundational (1968–1998), strategic internationalisation (1999–2011), and socio-integrative (2012–2026). The analysis demonstrates that support practices have gradually evolved from fragmented advisory assistance into a comprehensive and institutionally embedded system integrating academic guidance, language support, wellbeing services, career development, and post-study transition mechanisms. The findings indicate that contemporary support models increasingly combine student-centred, inclusive, and digitally mediated approaches while simultaneously responding to intensified migration regulation and global competition in international education. As a result, social and academic support has become a strategic component of university governance and a crucial factor in ensuring international student success, institutional sustainability, and the global competitiveness of British higher education.