Being a student is no easy job with vigorous courses, mountains of homework and a credit load that keeps you from sleeping at night.

But there’s one advantage that American students might overlook at times: speaking English.

International students are faced with the same challenges, but in a language that many are learning for the first time. Students who cannot meet academic and English language requirements to gain acceptance to Oregon State U. can take classes at INTO OSU, where they gain credits that will go toward their major and increase their language skills.

“The purpose of INTO OSU is to prepare students for regular classes, which means helping them with their English as well as adjusting to the culture,” said Chris Bell, academic director at INTO OSU.

INTO is a company based in the United Kingdom that recruits international students to universities in more than 50 different countries. INTO OSU is the first partnership between the company and a university in the United States.

Arriving in the U.S. during the winter of 2006, Anwar Alkhalifah, a 23-year-old sophomore in computer and electrical engineering, enrolled in what was then the English Language Institute, now known as INTO OSU.

“I had no English base when I started out,” Alkhalifah said. “Pretty much I knew nothing and I wasn’t able to have conversations.”

Alkhalifah’s vocabulary was very basic, with an understanding only a limited number of words such as “apple,” “table” and “door.” There was no solid existing foundation of vocabulary or grammar, and comprehension was also a struggle.

To officially gain entry to the university, international students must attain a passing score on the TOEFL language proficiency test and Alkhalifah’s English language skills were so low that he started out at level one.

“We worked on grammar, writing, reading and comprehension,” Alkhalifah said.

He needed extra help, so he went to office hours and looked to his American roommate.

The need and pressure to learn English quickly was heightened by Alkhalifah’s scholarship stipulations, which required that he take language classes for only a year before proceeding on to integrated university classes.

“When the year was approaching, I asked for a six-month extension and received it,” Alkhalifah said.

After a year and a half of English classes, Alkhalifah went ahead and took the TOEFL test required for university admission and wasn’t able to meet the needed score.

“After taking the test, I decided to go to Chemeketa Community College in Salem to take classes there,” Alkhalifah said. “I did pretty well; I got As and Bs and my English had improved a lot.”

In the fall of 2008, almost two years after he arrived, he returned to OSU and enrolled in official courses. Alkhalifah enrolled in WR 121, chemistry, math and health and human services courses.

The results weren’t what he had hoped for.

“I failed most of my classes because I wasn’t able to do the homework by myself,” Alkhalifah said. “The pace was too fast and I started to fall behind.”

Now as a sophomore, Alkhalifah’s experience with the Oregon education system has led him through ups and downs, but the struggle to succeed continues. With a 14-credit load that includes engineering, math, computer science and health and human services, academic life can seem hard at times.

“I’m not too happy with how I’m doing right now,” Alkhalifah said. “I have a lot of reading and I’m slow at it and end up getting behind.”

The path many international students take is similar to Alkhalifah’s: working on language skills at INTO OSU to eventually fully integrate into OSU classes.

The most popular program at INTO OSU is academic English, which focuses on language instruction from beginner to advanced levels, along with development of academic skills to prepare students for the university system.

“The measure of our success is based on the number of students we can integrate into OSU and seeing that they are achieving their goals, whatever those may be,” Bell said.

For Bell, success is not only academically based.

“Success is for the student to excel academically but who also integrates well in the community and that’s hard to measure,” Bell said.

With integration comes the task of keeping up with increasingly challenging classes.

Susan Meyers, director of writing, has worked with international students in the past and from her experience, one area of improvement for international students is on Writing Mechanics.

“Many students are prepared on the big picture components such as thinking critically and being engaged with ideas,” Meyers said “However, they may still need to continue working on more localized issues, such as grammatical patterns, for quite some time.”

A Writing 121 course can be challenging for both native English speakers and international students whose work is graded on the same criteria.

“All students are held to the same standard when it comes to grading,” Meyers said. “I ask for drafts – that way there’s an opportunity to improve the writing, and hopefully by then we have identified the student’s patterns.”

Success involves participation from the student and professor.

“It takes effort from both sides,” Meyers said. “Students need to learn what their resources are and the professor needs to put in the time to help.”

Time is one of the educational components that Alkhalifah wishes professors had more of when it comes to getting extra help.

“I’ve gone to office hours where there are a lot of students there for the same thing,” he said. “By the time it’s your turn you might only get five to 10 minutes; that’s not enough.”

In efforts to improve, Alkhalifah hopes to make some changes.

“Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself and that doesn’t help anything,” he said. “I also plan to take advantage of going to more office hours and managing my time better.”

He never gives up the goal of increasing his English language skills.

“I always try to continue to improve my English through all forms possible,” Alkhalifah said. “I’ve already come a long way.”