Enhancing the Collaboration between Finnish and International UASs Students Finnish Student's Perspective

Abstract

Nowadays, internationalization at home is the developmental trend in higher education institutions. As a matter of fact, it is important for a UAS in Finland to develop itself as a high-quality international education environment for students. The aim of the thesis is to determine the expectation and experience of Finnish students in regards to their international classmates and from that, locate the existing gaps between local students' expectations and reality. Solutions would be discussed to fulfill the gaps based on Finnish students' perspective. The thesis applies inductive approach and uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods for gathering data. The research employs both primary and secondary data. Primary data came from survey that was distributed to Finnish students, secondary data come from published sources such as books, documents, records. The theoretical part of the thesis covers international students in Finland, international of higher education and the internationalization at home. It also defines the concepts of student satisfaction as the customer focus. Research outcomes show several expectations and experiences of Finnish students on their international classmates. For instance, the expectation to improve language skills and the experience of cultural diversity. The findings of this research also show several gaps between the local students' expectation and reality such as the gap of cultural difference. Through the above findings, the research suggests UASs ideas to improve and enhance the collaboration between Finnish and international students which base on Finnish students' perspective. For example, UASs can provide compulsory cultural courses to reduce the cultural shock for local students.