Abstract
Student mobility has increased significantly over the past decade, supported by internationalization policies within Europe and in some other countries. International students are an important part of the internationalization process of university. Attracting international students can lead to a better learning environment also for domestic students. The cross-cultural interaction can lead to diffusion of knowledge among the cultures and thus be a motivation tool for both international and domestic students. This is why it is important to make sure students are satisfied with their life in university. This research is focusing on international students’ satisfaction at the UiO.
Students satisfaction and students’ overall experience with university is highly debated topic in the academic literature. The literature on student’ satisfaction and their perception of the educational experience is very complex. Views of the authors on the concept of students’ satisfaction are quite diverse. Two threads of perspectives are apparent: the academic and the social.
One of the main interests in this research was to see the connection within student diversity and their engagement in life of higher education institution. Another point of interest was to observe whether the ethnical background of international students shapes student engagement, satisfaction and gain. The data was collected from the 15 international master degree students of the University of Oslo. Even though the study is exploratory and it is not possible to make any final conclusions from the findings, the analysis of the replies allows monitoring the current attitude of students towards their educational experience at the UiO. The analysis reveals that social dimension of the educational process is important for students regardless their ethnical background and study program. Since academic and social dimensions seem to be intertwined, the dissatisfaction with the social dimension can lead to dissatisfaction with the academic dimension and vice versa. Hence, social aspect as well as academic aspect of the educational process should not be underestimated when trying to improve student’ satisfaction with university.