For many foreign students, trying to fit into a new society without any formal introduction requires strenuous effort and the problems encountered are not to be underestimated. If, in fact, most foreign students do encounter adjustment problems, what effect do these difficulties have on their academic performance? Are the problems a real hindrance? How are their studies affected? The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the adjustment process on one group of foreign students' academic achievement. The group studied was Malaysian students at the University of Canterbury. The second aim of the study was to examine whether the adjustment problems that these foreign students experienced were unique or whether they could be typical problems that could confront any student at Canterbury University. This comparison is a new aspect to such research as previous studies have focussed only on the difficulties of foreign students alone. If the problems are typical of those faced by all students, then, the solutions for overcoming them should be recommended for all students and not only for a particular group.