1 UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies Business School
ALUMNI’S EXPERIENCES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND SALES MANAGEMENT DEGREE PROGRAM
A qualitative case study
Master’s thesis International Business and Sales Management Liisa Leppävuori (277238) 20.05.2018
2 UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Department
Business School
Author
Liisa Leppävuori
Supervisor Jonna Koponen Title
Alumni’s experiences of the International Business and Sales Management Degree Program Main subject
International Business and Sales Management
Level
Master Degree
Date
xx,2018
Number of pages
69+8
This research aims to find out how the alumni of the International Business and Sales Management – program (IBS) experienced the study program. The research is conducted because it is important for the IBS program to learn how the alumni have experienced the program and what should be improved in order to be able to attract more students in the future. As the government has decreed that Finnish Universities are now able to charge tuition fees from non-EU citizens, it is vital to learn about the alumni experiences in order to make the program as appealing to future students as possible.
The literature review looks at how student satisfaction has been researched previously and how factors such as study environment and learning in a multicultural environment affect students’ experiences, according to previous research. The theoretical framework for this research is based on the previous research on student satisfaction.
This case study research was conducted qualitatively. Eight of the IBS alumni were interviewed with individual interviews about their experiences of the program. The interviews were conducted face to face or via Skype. The results were analysed using theme analysis method.
The results show that the alumni have been overall satisfied with the program and that their experiences of the program content have mainly been positive. The alumni seemed to have especially appreciated the multicultural learning environment of the program and the practical approach of the courses.
Improvements are needed for the thesis process, course contents and the course selection, in addition to integrating international students with the other student body.
In the conclusion chapter the researcher summarizes the research and gives recommendations on how to improve the program based on the results of this research.
Key words
Student satisfaction, multicultural learning environment, alumni, International Business and Sales Management -study program.
3 ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO
Tiedekunta
Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta
Yksikkö
Kauppatieteiden laitos
Tekijä
Liisa Leppävuori
Ohjaaja Jonna Koponen Työn nimi (suomeksi ja englanniksi)
Alumnien kokemukset kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan ja myynnin johtamisen opinto-ohjelmasta
Pääaine
Kansainvälinen kauppa ja myynnin johtaminen
Työn laji
Kauppatieteiden maisteri
Aika
xx.xx.2018
Sivuja
69+8
Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on ymmärtää, millaisia kokemuksia Kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan ja myynninjohtamisen ohjelman (IBS) alumneilla on kyseisestä opinto-ohjelmasta. Koska suomalaiset yliopistot saavat nyt periä lukukausimaksuja EU:n ulkopuolelta tulevilta opiskelijoilta, on tärkeää ymmärtää kuinka IBS alumnit ovat ohjelman kokeneet ja kuinka sitä voisi parantaa, jotta ohjelmasta tulisi mahdollisimman houkutteleva uusille opiskelijoille.
Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa tarkastellaan miten opiskelijoiden tyytyväisyyttä on aiemmin tutkittu ja millaiset tekijät, kuten opiskeluympäristö ja oppiminen monikulttuurisessa ympäristössä, vaikuttavat aiempien tutkimusten mukaan opiskelijoiden kokemuksiin. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys perustuu aiempaan opiskelijoiden tyytyväisyyden tutkimukseen.
Tämä tapaustutkimus tehtiin kvalitatiivisesti. Kahdeksaa IBS-alumnia haastateltiin heidän kokemuksistaan henkilökohtaisissa haastatteluissa. Haastattelut suoritettiin kasvotusten tai Skypen kautta, ja analysoitiin teema-analyysimetodia käyttäen.
Tulokset osoittavat, että alumnit ovat olleet yleisesti tyytyväisiä ohjelmaan ja että heidän kokemuksensa ohjelmasisällöstä ovat olleet pääasiassa positiivisia. Alumnit tuntuivat erityisesti arvostavan ohjelman monikulttuurista oppimisympäristöä ja kurssien käytännönläheistä lähestymistapaa. Pro gradu - prosessia, joidenkin kurssien sisältöä ja kurssivalikoimaa, sekä kansainvälisen opinto-ohjelman opiskelijoiden integroitumista muiden opiskelijoiden kanssa täytyy parantaa.
Yhteenveto-osassa tutkija tiivistää tutkimuksen ja antaa suosituksia siitä, miten ohjelman parantaminen perustuu tämän tutkimuksen tuloksiin.
Avainsanat Opiskelutyytyväisyys, monikulttuurinen opiskeluympäristö, alumni, Kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan ja myynninjohtamisen opinto-ohjelma.
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION...6
1.1. Background...6
1.2. Research objectives and research questions...7
2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF A STUDY PROGRAM...9
2.1. Student satisfaction...10
2.2. Study environment...17
2.3. Multicultural learning environment...21
2.4. Theoretical framework...26
3. METHODOLOGY, DATA AND ANALYSIS METHOD...28
3.1. Research approach...28
3.2. Data and its collection...30
3.3. Data analysis method...32
4. THE RESULTS...34
4.1. The case International Business and Sales Management program...34
4.2. The respondents...35
4.3. Expectations & overall satisfaction...36
4.4. Study environment...40
4.4.1. Physical environment...41
4.4.2. Learning atmosphere...42
4.4.3. University staff...43
4.5. Content of the program...44
4.5.1. Courses...45
4.5.2. Lectures...49
4.5.3. Teaching and learning methods...50
4.6. Cultural differences...53
4.6.1. Time perception...55
4.6.2. Communication...55
5. DISCUSSION...58
5.1. Theoretical contribution...65
6. CONCLUSIONS...67
5
6.1. Limitations, validity and reliability...69
SOURCES...70
APPENDIX 1- The case interview questions APPENDIX 2- The informed consent form
6 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
As the economy in Finland has been going through a recessional period recently, the discussion on where funds should be allocated has been a much discussed subject in recent years. The funding of University education has become a hot topic in these discussions and education, and among other fields, it has faced cuts in funding from the government.
The topic of charging tuition fees from foreign students has been brought forward again as Universities struggle to find new ways to fund their operations. This is one of the reasons that led to the educational legislation reform. According to the renewed legislation (Ministry of Education & Culture, 2015), Finnish Universities are now able to charge tuition fees from students coming from outside of Europe. The amount of the tuition fees is up to the universities.
The University of Eastern Finland has decided to charge 8000€ per year from non- European citizens for the International Business and Sales Management Master’s Degree Program, starting from September 2017 onwards. The question we need to ask now is how this will affect the number of non-EU applicants, who currently make up about a half of the student body in the program. In addition, how can we make the program more appealing to the prospective students, who now need to pay 8000€ to study in this program.
The topic of this thesis is to research the International Business and Sales Management (IBS) program from the alumni’s perspective. To interview the alumni whether the program has lived up to the expectations they had prior entering the IBS program with the current curriculum, teaching and the course contents.
In this study the focus is on how the International Business and Sales Management- program alumni experienced the program and initially, what made them decide to want to
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study in the program, what were their experiences about the program curriculum and teaching, and did these respond to their expectations prior entering. Did the alumni experience that the program prepared them for working life, what should have been different and how could the program be improved; these are some of the questions this research aims to find answers to.
In order to maintain and hopefully expand the amount of students, both domestic and foreign, in the International Business and Sales Management program, there is a need to also make sure that the degree programs being offered are able to attract new students every year. This can be ensured by making the study programs as appealing as possible and this is where this research will hopefully provide some valuable insight.
1.2. Research objectives and research questions
The purpose of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of how the alumni experience the IBS study program and how satisfied they were with the degree program.
What were the most common reasons for applying to the program and how the program met the alumni’s initial expectations. In addition, it is also important to learn how the alumni experience the teaching and study methods in the program and if they feel that they are relevant for working life. As this is an international degree program, it will also be important to learn how the alumni experience these multicultural issues. As this program has only been in operation for four years (since 2014), acquiring more information on how the students experience the program is important for the future development of the IBS study program.
After researching the literature on the topic of student satisfaction (e.g. Gibson, 2010., Munteanu et al. 2010 & Gruber et al. 2010) and seeing what kind of factors have been previously determined to have an impact on students’ experiences of degree programs, the research problem presented above was divided into dimensions that might affect the alumni’s overall experience of the IBS program and the factors that were believed to be
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important for this research were the study environment, as in the campus area, buildings and class rooms, in addition to the people on campus: the professors & other staff members; the cultural differences that were present in this multicultural environment; the content of the program and the perceived career success of the alumni after this program.
These dimensions were then the starting point for formulating the research questions.
The research questions formed for this research are hence as follows:
RQ 1: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have about the study environment?
RQ 2: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on the content of Master’s Degree Program?
RQ 3: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on learning in a multicultural group?
The research will be structured as follows:
The first chapter is the introduction chapter, where the reasons for the research are explained and the research design will be presented.
The second chapter will look at some of the previous literature on student satisfaction and how to measure higher education quality. Then study environment and some of the factors that might affect student experiences in that area are discussed. After that there will be a discussion on the cultural differences factor and how that might affect students study experiences, according to previous research.
Chapter 3 will focus on the chosen methodology of the research, the data collection and analysis method. In chapter 4, the case and the empirical results of the research will be presented. Chapter 5 is for the discussion of results and chapter 6 is where conclusions and recommendations are presented.
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2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF A STUDY PROGRAM
There has been no previous research for this particular study program as it is a fairly new one, only four year groups have been admitted to the program so far. There have, however been studies about other programs similar to this (such as MBA programs and business studies in general of course) and those studies can be used as a reference, in addition, to a lot of research on student satisfaction in higher education and the cultural differences that are present in the multicultural study environment. The studies used as reference here are mostly focused on business students as those provided the most relevant results for this study. The literature for this review was mainly found through the database Scopus, and some of the key words used for this research were “study experiences”, “business students” and “intercultural experiences”, to name a few. Many times the search would continue through the references used in a relevant article and that way many more articles were found.
The trends around study program research at the moment seem have a common denominator and that is that higher education institutions are becoming more and more aware of the fact that they should become more student centered in order to be able to compete for students in the future. The importance of things such as good study environment and good relationships with the teaching staff that is high on the list of student satisfaction. Other important issues include internationalization of education and its effects on group dynamics among students, the challenges multicultural study groups portray to teaching. Commercialization of knowledge is also something that has been talked about a lot recently, especially as part of the tuition fee discussions and that is something that will definitely have an impact on the field of higher education.
10 2.1. Student satisfaction
This section focuses on the research that has been conducted on the topic of student satisfaction previously and what are the key factors in determining how satisfied the students are with their study programs.
When looking at these student satisfaction studies, many similar factors seem to be present in most of the studies. Gibson (2010) reviewed some of the most popular business student satisfaction studies and models over a 15 year period and found the most important factors that tend to be repeated from study to study are: academic staff and teaching, classes or curriculum, advising support, skills development, preparation for future, facilities, social integration and student centeredness. These factors are listed in the order of perceived importance to students when deciding their university study programs. Pre-enrolment factors, as in expectations for the study program for example, were only included in 2 studies that were conducted on both business and non-business students so this could be something that needs further research. This is the reason why this research is very relevant as there is not much previous research on these international business student expectations and this is something this research will look into; the expectations the alumni had before entering the IBS program and how these expectations affected their study experience.
Hill (1995) wants higher education organisations to pay more attention to finding out about students’ expectations. This sentiment includes both current students and prospective students. It is also suggested that these organisations should find a way to manage these expectations so that they correspond to the service quality available.
Furthermore, the researcher encourages the higher education institutions to pay attention to student evaluation processes, which should be comprehensive and multi-focused.
Even though this research was conducted over 20 years ago, I would argue that the sentiment here is valid. The field of higher education has evolved a lot from those days but so have the students and it is important for higher education institutions to keep up with this change. Technology has brought in more challenges of its own and students’
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expectations are somewhat different nowadays than they were previously. So continuously researching student expectations and keeping up with current trends in education is very important for the survival of higher education institutions.
One of these trends mentioned in the previous paragraph that has been very much talked about recently is the commercialisation of education and viewing students as consumers.
Higher education field is seen as a service but it is also often argued that it differs from commercialised services in its nature as an educator. This is not a new trend per se, it comes up in discussions every now and then but recently, especially with this topic of introducing tuition fees in higher education in Finland, it has been very much talked of.
Lomas (2007) found that there is a distinct difference in point of view with governments and higher education lecturers about the commercialization of education and perceiving students as customers. This attitude does, however, differ between the academic study programs as well. It is easier to view students as customers if one teaches business for example, or a health care related program. It was also discovered that new universities appear more customer-oriented and it is common that these new universities consider high-quality student experience very important.
What do students think about this notion of students being consumers then? Tomlinson (2017) indentifies 3 different mindset groups that students have about themselves as consumers. The research was conducted among British higher education students (n=68) representing seven different institutions. The first group identifies students as consumers and is very aware of their rights. The second group disagrees completely with this
‘student consumer’ statement and is very critical about consumerism altogether. The third group lands somewhere in between the two other groups. This is perhaps such a novel idea that students have not yet gotten around to considering this fully but I think that with the current way things are moving, it might be that someday these results will show that students do consider themselves as consumers, maybe not in the way we think of consumerist consumers but if students do pay for the service of being taught, then what else are they then consumers one might say. This is something that needs to be considered as the competition for new students may become more intense in the future
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and students’ expectation and their satisfaction with their chosen study programs and universities is something the higher education institutions need to be aware of and take it into consideration.
To be able to attract more students in the future, universities need to look into their study programs; learn what makes students choose their programs, and how pleased students are with these programs and what they offer. In order to do this, the institutions must learn how their students experience their university time, what factors affect student satisfaction and how these factors can then be improved. The students that have a positive university experience are more likely to feel satisfied with their chosen university, whereas students who have negative experiences are likely to view the university in a less positive way (Deshieldis et al., 2005). This finding supports the idea of market-oriented thinking for universities and that universities should provide their students the best possible, high-quality experience. To ensure that universities are providing their students what they want, the universities must first learn more about their students’ need, wants and expectations for this to be a successful venture. Deshieldis et al. (2005) also point out that universities should consider student satisfaction during the study period as well as when they are trying to attract new students. Ensuring that the students are content with their studies, the courses offered and the professors among other things is an important factor in student satisfaction, which then leads to satisfied alumni with good experiences and possibly good word-of-mouth promotion, which then could lead to new students applying.
It is evident that high student satisfaction results in good word-of-mouth (Bruce &
Edgington, 2008). What seem to be especially important to students, are the quality of education and the overall value of their diploma (MBA in this case example). The results suggest that these factors play a larger role in these word-of-mouth recommendations than the income received after graduation. Moreover, the relationship with fellow students seems to also play a large part in these recommendations. Bruce & Edgington (2008) emphasise that these student relationships are very important to the overall satisfaction of students and that these factor should be considered when selecting students for the program. With this in mind, it is important to note that classroom activities such as
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group work are important in forming these relationships. Of course the student selection process will not be able to guarantee that such relationships will be formed in the group, however creating a good atmosphere early on and having suitable group building exercises is beneficial to this process. This study by Bruce & Edgington (2008) suggests that even though MBA students are often seen as very achievement oriented, the students appreciate these “soft-values” as in relationships and personal development just as much.
As we are looking at an international study program here, we should consider the fact that international students might view the study program and the university differently than our national students. They can also value the different aspects of the university life in a very different way from the national students. This is something that one needs to remember as well when dealing with an international study program. Woodall, Hiller &
Riesnick (2014) found that home country students, in this research, UK students, and international students value their respective study programs differently. Home country students are more focused on the Net Value of the program, in other words the whole of the program (course selection, university environment & services etc.), where as international students consider the outcomes (the degree for example and the knowledge gained during studies) and the relationship cost (Homesickness, financial matters, academic stress, etc.) of the chosen program. It was also discovered that home students value the study environment higher than international students. It is no surprise that international students need to consider the relationship costs of studying abroad, as it is expensive and not seeing one’s family and friends can be very stressful. What is interesting here is that according to this study home country students are more interested in the study experience itself than the outcomes of the study period, whereas international students seem to consider these future implications of their study choice more.
Student satisfaction has been studied by many researchers in the past and different factors affecting student satisfaction have been discovered. Munteanu et al. (2010) studied student satisfaction among business students in different university programs in one university in Romania. The results suggest that each study program has its strengths and weaknesses which need to be known by the organising party in order to attract new
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students and to maintain good relations with their alumni. The study identifies 9 main dimensions that can be used in determining student satisfaction. These dimensions are:
1. Long term professional horizon, which means the education received and how applicable this is to real work situations, in addition to how likely graduates are to become employed after their studies.
2. Supplemental education, which means additional education by visiting professors or industry professionals and extra-curricular projects such as internships etc.
3. Course content, e.g. course contains relevant and up to date content.
4. Communication gates, which means how easy the communication was between professors and students.
5. Timing and feedback, in other words timing of the courses (are there clashes between classes etc), how and when feedback is given etc.
6. Pressure, this dimension includes both the educational pressures due to deadlines and course work etc., in addition to pressure which can arise from difficult relationships with the professors.
7. Support services, e.g. library services.
8. Thesis preparation, the final step before graduation.
9. This one is called the “dark side” in the article, which means inappropriate behaviours that students may encounter during their study time.
Out of these 9 dimensions, 7 first ones seem to be the most important ones when students were determining their level of satisfaction with their study programs.
Gruber et al. (2010) created a tool for testing student satisfaction in higher education, based on their research in German higher education facilities. See figure 1 below. Quality dimensions investigated in the study are presented on the left and potential, additional factors that may impact student satisfaction are on the right. This tool comprises of all the factors the researchers noted to affect student experience and their feelings of satisfaction with their education. Among the additional factors in the figure below are personal
situation of the student, situational factors that will affect unrelated to the experience per se, and tuition fees.
Figure 1: Framework for testing student satisfaction in higher education (Gruber et al., 2010)
Sun & Richardson (2016) found that within postgraduate business students
satisfaction is very much linked to students’ perceptions of their workload and the quality of teaching. The students that viewed their workload as appropriate would perceive the quality of teaching more favorably as well.
Many of the student satisfaction studies mention education quality as one of the factors affecting student satisfaction. How do students view this quality of education and how it is evident in the day to day practises of a higher education institution, these are questions that come to mind next. Hill, Lomas & McG
emerged in their research on how students see quality in their higher education 15
situation of the student, situational factors that will affect student satisfaction but are unrelated to the experience per se, and tuition fees.
: Framework for testing student satisfaction in higher education (Gruber et al.,
Sun & Richardson (2016) found that within postgraduate business students
satisfaction is very much linked to students’ perceptions of their workload and the quality of teaching. The students that viewed their workload as appropriate would perceive the quality of teaching more favorably as well.
atisfaction studies mention education quality as one of the factors affecting student satisfaction. How do students view this quality of education and how it is evident in the day to day practises of a higher education institution, these are questions come to mind next. Hill, Lomas & McGregor (2003) identified four key themes that emerged in their research on how students see quality in their higher education student satisfaction but are
: Framework for testing student satisfaction in higher education (Gruber et al.,
Sun & Richardson (2016) found that within postgraduate business students, student satisfaction is very much linked to students’ perceptions of their workload and the quality of teaching. The students that viewed their workload as appropriate would perceive the
atisfaction studies mention education quality as one of the factors affecting student satisfaction. How do students view this quality of education and how it is evident in the day to day practises of a higher education institution, these are questions regor (2003) identified four key themes that emerged in their research on how students see quality in their higher education
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institutions and how this quality is visible to them. These themes are; Quality of the lecturer, Student engagement with learning, Social and emotional support systems and Resources of library and IT. These themes are usually considered important in the same order as presented here. Quality of the lecturer means how well the lectures are planned, how charismatic the lecturer is in getting students’ attention and how well the lecturer communicates with the students. Student engagement with learning means using relevant, up to date methods and electronics, teaching relevant topics and challenging students’
thinking in the right way. Social and emotional support then means the both the academic support at the university and the support from peers who make the learning atmosphere inspirational, but also the support for their studies from family and friends. Lastly, resources of library and the IT are mentioned, this means the availability of IT services, computers for the use of students on campus etc. and the availability of books, online materials and databases by the library services. These themes can be considered very important for successful and positive student experience.
Martinez & Toledo (2013) found that the quality of the educational process was the main factor for students when they were asked if they would repeat the study program they had graduated from, and if they would attend the same university again. Second most important factor found in this research was personal growth and skills development.
These two first factors were found to be the factors that together largely determine if a student is to repeat their studies. The third most important variable here was the relevance of the studies in regards to the job-market.
Arambewela, Hall & Zuhair (2006) found that for Asian postgraduate students (mainly China, India, Indonesia and Thailand in this study) the most important factors that affected student satisfaction were the quality of education, student facilities and their quality, reputation of the institutions, the marketability of degrees for better career prospects and the quality of the university on the whole. What usually was unsatisfactory for this student group was the academic support and facilities such as libraries.
Students appreciate the relationships they have with their teachers but also with the university staff. This relationship includes trust, good communication and support among
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other factors. This relationship quality, where students can trust their teachers and other staff members is very important to students according to a study by Snijders et al. (2018).
To summarize, student satisfaction in education is a multifaceted phenomenon. Research has identified that there are some general factors that usually are able to indicate student satisfaction and these are: the teaching and other staff, the curriculum of the study program, support available for students, student skills development, preparation for future, the facilities of the university, and social aspects such as opportunities to meet other students etc. The names of the variables can differ from study to study but these are the key factors that are present in most of the studies conducted.
Some of the current issues or trends in this field are the idea of commercialization of education and how viewing students as consumers of a service will change the attitudes towards education marketing; and how student satisfaction needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about promoting study programs. In addition to this, the growing number of international students and facing the challenges that this portrays, in order to create a multicultural study environment so that it serves many different types of students. All in all, it seems that this student centeredness is becoming the key in creating successful study programs that will attract students in the future.
2.2. The study environment
This section explores the study environment, what affects students’ perception of a good study environment and how this might affect students’ experiences of the study program itself. By study environment we mean the physical university buildings and the campus area. It encompasses all study spaces like the classrooms, the library facilities for studying, atmosphere present in these spaces and the university as a whole. Study environment also includes the people, professors, lecturers, university staff and other students and the relationships created during day to day interactions.
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Even the smallest details in the classroom can affect students and their study experiences.
The organisation of the classroom, the room layout, how desks are placed for example seems to play an important part in the perceived course satisfaction in students’ minds, in addition to air quality (not too warm or too cool, no stuffy air) among other such variables (Han et al. 2017).
Lizzio et al. (2002) studied the implications of university students’ perceptions on their learning environment and their academic outcomes. The results of their study also support the notion Diseth (2007) had that it is important to create a suitable teaching environment where students enjoy being because this will affect their academic achievement. Lizzio et al. (2002) also found that students’ positive perceptions of teaching environment will influence students towards deep approaches, that is to learn the subject matters more completely and to be able to apply them in practice, to studying, where as badly viewed environment will persuade students towards surface approaches (to only learn something to pass an exam for example). What is more, Heikkilä & Lonka (2006) found that often the positive takes on studying such as deep approach, self- regulation of learning and optimistic strategy go hand in hand as well as the negative takes such as surface approach, problems with self-regulation and self-handicapping.
Hernandez-Lopez et al. (2016) found that the students’ perception on the suitability of the teaching methods used, their knowledge acquisition and the development of their competences are directly linked. The ability of the teacher to create a positive relationship with his/her students is therefore indirectly linked with the students’ learning of the topic. Heikkilä & Lonka (2006) also stress the importance of consciously promoting a positive study atmosphere.
This will also help the students in asking questions and reassuring themselves that they have actually understood the point, compared to a teaching situation with a teacher who they have a less positive relationship with. Promoting a good student-teacher relationship therefore promotes student learning. This will also help the teachers in assessing their teaching methods, as Hernandez-Lopez et al. (2016) point out. It is easier to assess their teaching methods when the teachers know they will be able to receive honest feedback from the students on what works and what does not.
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Richardson & Radloff (2014) also found support for this idea that close student-teaching staff relations have positive effect on student performance and especially to their learning experience. There is however a divide between the younger teaching staff members and the senior members. According to the research, students find it easier to approach and connect with younger staff. This may be due to the age similarities, the appearance that the younger teachers might be more on the same level with language use etcetera, where as the more senior lecturers tend to communicate less with their students and, as Richardson and Radloff (2012) point out, prefer to do this via email rather than face to face. This is important to take note of and encourage change in the future as good teacher-student relations are of proven importance and this should be remembered when making decisions in regards to methods of teaching. What is more, the fact that online education, virtual lectures and distance teaching are becoming more and more popular, we need to find out new ways of maintaining this important contact between the students and their teachers.
Frisby, Slone & Bengu (2017) found that instructor-student rapport was an important factor in positive student experiences. It can have a positive effect on student participation and motivation, in addition to student’s perception of learning. According to this research that was conducted in the U.S. and Turkey, good instructor-student rapport had positive effects in both cultures, despite the differing levels of said rapport.
Diseth (2007) found that there is a relationship between student’s approaches to learning and academic achievement, and between student’s approaches to learning and evaluation- perception of the learning environment. Also some causality with these factors was found. The findings suggest that it is important to pay attention to the study environment as it affects student’s academic achievement through their approach to learning (Diseth, 2007)
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Creating student belonging is central to a successful learning environment (Masika &
Jones, 2016). The learning environment needs to be inviting and stimulating to the students. The students need to feel like they belong and can express their opinions and views without fear of being bullied or made fun of. At the same time, the learning environment should not be too comfortable but to challenge students to strive for better achievements. This can be difficult to achieve in practice, as there are as many types of students as there are individuals (as will be discussed more a bit later in this chapter) and finding an environment that would respond to everyone’s needs will be impossible. There are those students who are more outspoken and find it easy to express their opinions, who thrive in class conversations and then there are those who shy from speaking out loud in class and would rather follow lectures without taking part in discussions. Internationality brings a completely new aspect to this as there are many different levels of language skills, for example, that might hinder some student’s participation in class situations.
Hailikari & Parpala (2014) examined how students’ study progress could be affected by their approaches to learning and experienced difficulties or successes. What was discovered was that what one student considers as a difficulty, some other student might find that particular factor (the example of work was used in the article) might enhance their study success. The only factors that according to the study seemed to be directly linked to study progress were how interesting the students thought the teaching was and whether they were working at the same time as studying. This lead the researchers to the conclusion that the students study progress might not be a straight reflection of their interest in the studies or how busy they are on their time off studying, and that there may not be a general factor that either enhances or impedes students’ study progress. It should be kept in mind that students are individuals and each individual faces a different set of challenges and these affect each person differently.
Much on the same topic, Heikkilä et al. (2011) examined students’ approaches to learning in relation to other factors such as stress etc. The study differed from the previous studies in the sense that the focus was on individual students and their orientation towards studies, not students as a group. Although there were three different groups of students
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that were identified (non-academic, self-directed and helpless students), the results suggest that there cannot be easily drawn conclusions about these impeding factors (such as stress) that would affect all the student body the same way. The researchers encourage the educational staff to remember that each student is an individual.
To summarize, the classrooms and other study areas need to be suitable for their purpose and factors that might distract students need to be minimized. What is more, however, is that the concept of study environment includes a lot more than just the physical buildings and the classrooms of a university. These physical aspects are of course, very important as well, but in addition this concept includes things such as the atmosphere in the campus area and the people who students meet on day to day basis on campus. These relationships with the university staff members and teachers are very important to students’ performance and to their experiences satisfaction with their studies. It seems that students’ thrive in an environment where the teaching staff is supportive and encouraging; students find it easy to approach the teachers and feel confident in doing so.
So a good study environment happens when the importance of good working relationships is understood and executed.
2.3. Multicultural learning environment
In this section, the focus is on cultural differences; how they affect a multicultural learning environment and how to deal with issues that may arise from these differences.
As this thesis is focused on an international study program, these cultural differences are present every day and it is important to understand a bit more about the issues that might appear in the day to day conduct of the program. As the teaching style present in the program is mostly Western, but the students are coming from Asian and African cultures, in addition to Western cultures, it is important to be aware of the different perspectives these cultures have on learning and teaching as this may propose challenges in the classroom. There are many different articles that discuss the differences between Western and Asian learning styles but it seems that African cultures and the learning styles
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represented there are more difficult to find. This might be something future research should look at more closely.
Ding & Lin (2012) came to the conclusion that there are significant differences in the learning styles of Western European and Asian students. Their study comprised of nearly 200 International Business students from a Dutch university. The study found that the way most business classes are taught, through lectures and group discussions, favors the preferred way of learning of the Western European students, where as Asian students may find it difficult to follow lectures or be involved in a group discussion. This may be due to lack of language skills, this study was concerned about undergraduate students but the case might be also similar in master’s studies. The language skills acquired in previous education may differ greatly between different nationalities; this is something anyone in an international study program would recognize for sure.
In his research, Davies (2007) supports the notion that Asians and Westerners tend to think in different ways and that their logic uses different patterns from one another.
Westerners use more straight forward logic where Asians tend to look at relationships between factors. The results also suggest that Asian students might experience some challenges with presenting “critical thinking” when studying on university level. This does not mean that Asian students would lack the ability of critical thought, but rather that their culture does not support Western type of reasoning. This could be one factor that contributes to Asian students being rather hesitant to take part in classroom discussions for example. Davies (2007) suggests that this lack of “critical thinking”
should be taken into consideration when thinking about international study programs and that perhaps Asian students should be provided with some academic training and support in this matter. This is probably something that could be beneficial to all international students, no matter where they originally came from.
Kember (2000) argues that Asian students are mistakenly seen as only learning things through memorisation and not striving towards a deeper understanding. This mistaken perception is then only enhanced by academics that only see their students as capable of following such teaching styles and do not encourage the usage different methods. The
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students need time and support in adapting to different teaching styles. He says that Asian students are very motivated by good career prospects over all and that means they want to perform well in their studies. Kember (2000) then continues by stating that all students are motivated by courses that provide career-relevant information for their future careers.
He concludes by urging the academics to provide their multicultural student groups with teaching methods that require students’ active participation, keeping in mind that some students may not be familiar with such methods and provide support for students to adapt and thrive.
Lee (2009) studied Asian post-graduate students’ classroom participation in American universities. The Asian students’ felt that their English skills were lacking and found it difficult to join in the classroom discussions that were usually fast paced. However their language skill was adequate, the students seemed to lack confidence in using the language. Cultural differences seemed to also play a part, as Koreans are taught very early on to listen and not to question, whereas Americans are taught to express opinions and ask questions. “Students perceptions on their language level, differences in socio- cultural values and educational practices, individual differences and the classroom context” were all factors that affect the students’ willingness to participate in the classroom discussion. So there are many factors affecting the Asian students’ willingness to speak up in class other than just the lack of perceived language skills. (Lee, 2009)
Kelly & Moogan (2012) studied culture shock and higher education performance amongst MBA students. Taking into account the differences in study backgrounds of the international students, it is important for the teaching staff to recognize these differences and use a variety of different methods of teaching their classes or provide the students with alternative ways of studying (for example, electronic sources online for tasks, lecture videos, group discussions). The study looked at the higher level education in England. What is an important finding by Kelly & Moogan (2012) is that international students performed better in their exams than home students and with course work the situation was vice versa. The researchers here argue that this may be due to international students adopting surface learning approach, rather than a deep learning approach.
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Reid & Garson (2017) suggest that when forming multicultural groups, the instructors should ensure that the groups are formed so that the participants complement each other’s skills and are from different cultural backgrounds. This new arrangement would then lead to intercultural learning. According to their research, this has a positive effect to students’
opinions on group working as previously the groups were very unbalanced and students did not enjoy that.
Kurpis & Hunter (2017) found that students are very keen on improving their cross- cultural skills and that this is something study programs should also provide in order to attract more potential students. The study also found that both domestic (in this study, American students) and international student groups enjoyed the experience and felt their intercultural competence increased during the activities.
Eisenberg et al. (2013) researched how cross-cultural management education would affect students’ cultural intelligence and the results support the idea that these courses do increase students’ cultural intelligence. The results also support the notion that cultural intelligence is something that does not increase over an extended period of staying abroad, rather that it requires a special cross-cultural skills training in order to achieve higher cultural intelligence level. It is also suggested that these classroom experiences can be seen as alternatives for the actual international experiences one can gain from abroad and that these in- class exercises can also offer relevant international experiences.
Jones (1999) says that cultural background may play a larger role in international students shyness to speak in class than just the perceived language skills and the lack there of. It is argued here that the unfamiliarity with the teaching practices of the host country, including the importance of group discussions and the discourse norms related to it, play an important part here. Coming from cultures where students are taught to be attentive and listen to teachers rather than ask questions or even challenge something said in class is considered impolite and something not to be done, it is difficult to come to terms with the more lively classrooms where students are encouraged to ask questions and challenge the theories being taught. This is an old study, one must remember that
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some things have changed quite a lot since this study was conducted and there has perhaps been some sort of a cultural shift where these cultural differences are taken into consideration better these days. However this cultural difference in the upbringing of children seems to still prevail and the educational philosophies that are still in use have not changed and so this “gap” is still seen in international students.
Simpson (2017) came to the conclusion that many times international students say that they are experiencing ‘language problems’ with their group members and fellow students, when in reality they might be experiencing ‘conversational problems’. Simpson (2017) identified 3 factors that play a part in group communication; language, relationships and skills. He found that many times when students were working together in a group setting, the difficulties that students identified as language issues when in fact the problem was the communication setting; for some international students find communicating in a small group in order to finish a task very difficult. This is not so much a language issue but rather a relationship issue. If the group members do not find a way to successfully interact with each other, the group work is most probably not going to be successful.
Successful interaction requires collaborative skills. The findings suggest that students appreciated active learning tasks that provided them with opportunities to develop their intercultural competence, team work skills and negotiation skills. Simpson (2017) has similar thoughts on this subject: “Interaction with other group members was obviously an important element of students’ experience of group work and their linguistic ability and confidence in building positive relationships were important elements in shaping this interaction.” (Simpson, 2017)
To summarize, multicultural study environment is portraying some unique challenges to those involved, whether as teachers or as students. There are some very different learning styles present as Western students and Asian students tend to be different in their learning styles. Differing levels of language skills may also present challenges, as can different ways of thinking and rationalising. Unfortunately there is not enough information on African cultures and their learning styles to be able to compare them with Asian and Western styles. Asian students are more prone to look at relationships of things and are more focused on the big picture; whereas Western mentality is focusing on the details and
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reason. These differences should, however, be considered as complementing each other, not to be compared for which is better, but to be used together to create a better solution for a group project for example. This is why it is encouraged that when forming groups for project work, the groups should be as mixed as possible in order to ensure the best outcome.
Intercultural learning is something the students seem to enjoy, wherever they are from originally. This is something that could be added to these kind of study programs even more widely as this is something students enjoy and it will benefit them in the future in their work life for sure.
The research gap found during this literature review is that there are very few previous studies in this area of student satisfaction that have multiple nationalities represented in the sample. This research aims to fulfil some of that gap with 6 different nationalities and furthermore both Asian and African viewpoints, in addition to European, are represented.
There have been a few studies on the Finnish academic learning environment (e.g.
Kovalainen, 2011) previously but this subject has not been extensively researched yet.
This research aims to provide more information on this issue as well.
2.4. Theoretical framework
This case study research will be based on the research problem presented earlier, the research questions formed in order to answer the research problem and the framework, which is based on the literature presented above.
As said in the beginning, the IBS program is a new study program and the alumni experiences are something that has not yet been researched, which is why conducting this research is important at the moment. The aim of this research is to find out what were the alumni’s experiences of the IBS study program overall; and how the specific factors of study environment, content of the program and learning in a multicultural group have affected the alumni’s experiences. These factors were determined to be important for this
specific research with the help of some previous studies (Gruber et al., 2010; Munteanu et al., 2010; Gibson, 2010).
perceived as the most central for the alumni experiences based on the previous research and this specific case.
Figure 2: Theoretical framework
From this setting the following research questions
RQ 1: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have about the
RQ 2: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on the content of Master’s Degree Program?
RQ 3: What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on learning in a multicultural group?
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specific research with the help of some previous studies (Gruber et al., 2010; Munteanu et al., 2010; Gibson, 2010). These factors were chosen for this research as they were central for the alumni experiences based on the previous research
: Theoretical framework
the following research questions were formed:
What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have about the study environment?
What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on the content of Master’s
What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on learning in a multicultural specific research with the help of some previous studies (Gruber et al., 2010; Munteanu et
These factors were chosen for this research as they were central for the alumni experiences based on the previous research
study environment?
What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on the content of Master’s
What kind of experiences do the IBS alumni have on learning in a multicultural
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3. METHODOLOGY, DATA AND ANALYSIS METHOD
3.1 Research approach
This research was performed as a case study since the research was only concerned about a single degree program entity and its alumni. A case study refers to an in-depth study of a certain topic, subject matter or problem. Many books refer to case studies as a research strategy or an approach rather than a research method (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008, Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2013), as case studies usually involve many different methods of collecting and analyzing the data and the results.
What is challenging with case study research is linking theory with the practical findings, as Eriksson & Kovalainen (2008) point out. Sometimes a case is so unique, just like the case in this particular research, that it is quite a challenge to find theory which could be used in the research. The aim of a case study is not to provide a general theory on a matter, but to understand how the case works in its unique context (Eriksson &
Kovalainen, 2008).
Qualitative research methods were used because there is not enough knowledge of this topic yet as this is the first research of its kind with this program. The most used research methods when conducting qualitative analysis are interviews, questionnaires, observation and gathering information from different documents (Tuomi & Sarajärvi, 2009). Tuomi
& Sarajärvi (2009) describe interviews as being more flexible ways to gather information than questionnaires for example. They also note that with this type of research, generalisation of the results is rarely a problem as the results are not even supposed to be generalized.
Moreover, it was decided initially that the study would consider all of the 3 year groups as the information source for the research but after careful consideration it was decided that the best approach for this particular research would be to focus on 2 groups instead and those 2 year groups were the first year group admitted in the program in the year
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2014 and the second group that began their studies in 2015, as it was considered that these year groups that would provide the research with the best material for this particular case since most of the students in these groups have already completed their course studies and are either in the process of writing their thesis or have graduated already. The definition for alumnus, the singular form of the word alumni, according to Merriam- Webster dictionary is “a person who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university” (Merriam Webster online dictionary). The term “alumni”
was be used to refer to all of the interviewees in this research for clarity, even though not all of the interviewees had graduated at the time of the interview. The reasons for this choice of wording were first of all, as mentioned in the beginning, this study program has begun in the year 2014 and the optimum study time is 2 years for this degree. The participants for the study were chosen from the pool of students who had passed that 2 year mark in their studies and it was assumed that they had completed their studies by that time. Secondly, as this research was based on voluntary participation, the researcher was able to obtain 8 interviews in total. Out of these 8 participants, 5 had already graduated and were working fulltime already and 3 of the participants were in the process of completing their thesis at the time of the interviews.
The research itself was conducted with individual interviews. Material for the IBS program itself was used as secondary data. The responses from the respondents were handled confidentially. The interviews were recorded and the researcher was the one interviewing and analyzing the recoding. All respondents were asked whether they want to participate in the study or not (informed consent). The names of the respondents were then changed in the results presentation in order to maintain the anonymity.
The research was conducted as individual interviews as this was the simplest method to gather the results. Focus group was originally planned as the preferred data gathering method but due to time and location constraints, the plan was changed. The method of individual interviews was chosen because many of the alumni had already moved away from Kuopio so a focus group study was not a viable option, although it would have been a very good option and maybe that is something to consider in the future, if this topic
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needs to be more thoroughly investigated in the future. The interviews were conducted either face to face or via Skype.
One has to keep in mind that the researcher’s questions can affect the way interviewees reply specific topic or how they react (Stewart &Shamdasani, 1990). This is why it is important to try to phrase the questions so that the interviewer’s own bias does not affect the question setting and so lead the interviewees’ responses to the path that would be favorable towards the interviewer’s own thoughts but that the responses would remain as honest and unbiased as possible.
However, in this case, as the researcher is also a student of this particular program, the interview situation might already have a biased setting to begin with, at least to some extent. On the other hand, in this case this kind of a bias might not be too unfortunate, as the setting was one alumnus interviewing another, the responses received from the interviews may be very different from what might have occurred with a different setting, say for example, conducted by the administrative staff or the professors. As the researches is on the same level, so to say, with the interviewees and has gone through the same program, one could think that the responses received may be more straightforward than with a different setting.
3.1.Data and its collection
The data was collected through individual interviews with 8 representatives of the alumni interviewed. The data was collected in May and June 2017. The data collection includes four interviews from the alumni that began their studies in 2014 and four who began their studies in 2015. The respondents’ nationalities were chosen as a representation of the student population of the program. The duration of the interviews was from 30 minutes up to 1 hour, depending on the individual’s responses. Data was gathered preferably via face to face interviews but in four of the cases, Skype was used as the interviewees had
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already relocated from Kuopio area. All of the interviews were recorded with the permission of the respondents. These recordings were then transcribed into text form.
3.2.Data analysis method
The data was analysed using qualitative methods, as stated above. Qualitative analysis is usually divided into two different styles, inductive analysis and deductive analysis (Tuomi & Sarajärvi, 2009). Inductive analysis usually means forming generalisations and theories from smaller pieces such as opinions and experiences, and deductive analysis works from general theories to smaller entities. Constructivism as a research position assumes that there is no formation of knowledge without the act of thinking first. Reality is something that is constructed by our own mind and where knowledge is subjective and constructed by the shared signs between members of the community. The focus is usually on thematic analysis in order to gain and in-depth understanding of the problem (Grbich, 2007). This as a research position means that the focus in this research is to gain in-depth knowledge of what the alumni have experienced during their time in the IBS program and how these experiences have affected their overall study experience.
The analysis of the interviews gathered from the alumni began by first transcribing the interviews to text form. Then all of the transcribed data was read first, all 8 interviews without making any notes. Then, in next round of reading, important points were marked and notes were made. This was then repeated about 3 times and the results were then gathered to a table. In this table, the results were then reorganised according to themes, their subcategories and the codes, in other words the actual meanings in the data.
The responses were grouped according to themes and it seemed like the best way to proceed would be to group the data in positive and negative points within a theme. So that all themes had both positive and negative aspects gathered and provided then an easy way to begin comparing and contrasting the points.
32 Figure 3: The data analysis method
This grouping of positive and negative points within a theme was done to all other themes, except the cultural differences theme as this was a difficult theme to actually divide into only positive and negative points, as there are many points that could fit into both categories depending on the perspective. In this category, there are so many different aspects that one cannot simply divide into just positive or negative groupings, so within this theme, the points the alumni raised were handled a bit differently as it was found that the best way to analyze this according to the alumni’s responses was to just group their responses into “general thoughts” category that would comprise of their general thoughts and feelings on the subject of internationality and multicultural study groups, in addition to creating a category for “group working in multi-cultural groups”
where it was easier to add both the positive and negative comments considering this category.
Below are some examples of the tables that were created in this process.
Table 1: Theme analysis example on Study environment Theme
Theme Sub-category Meaning in the data Quotation from the data
Study environment Physical environment
Classrooms “All the equipment, the necessary things for studying and presenting, were provided.”
Transcribing Reading Themes Coding Analysis
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Atmosphere Encouraging “I felt valued.”
Table 2: Theme analysis example on Cultural Differences Theme
Theme Sub-category Meaning in the data Quotation from the data
Cultural differences
General thoughts e.g. Time perception “Being on time is different”
Group work with multi-cultural group
Learning different styles of doing
“I think I became more attentive to other people’s work styles”
34 4. THE RESULTS
Here I will first present the case IBS briefly and then look at the respondents of this research. After this I will proceed to looking at each of the themes individually and explaining the results gathered from my research. At the end of the chapter I will briefly summarize the results.
The idea of the research was to gather the experiences of the alumni on how they perceived the IBS program as a whole. This whole was then divided into different categories that might affect the overall experience of the alumni. The categories found to be important in this research were the study environment, as in the campus area, buildings and class rooms; the content of the program and the cultural differences that were present in this multicultural learning environment.
4.1. The case International Business and Sales Management program
The International Business and Sales Management Master’s degree program is a multidisciplinary two year Master’s degree program offered by the University of Eastern Finland. UEF offers university education on 3 different campuses in Joensuu, Kuopio and Savonlinna. The International Business and Sales Management (IBS) program is located on the university’s Kuopio campus. (UEF website)
The IBS program is one of a kind as there is no other program offered in Finland with this kind of a focus. Here is how the program is described on the university webpage:
“Our Master’s Degree Programme with a unique combination of International Business and Sales Management provides in-depth understanding of the global business environment and firm's approaches to doing business and sales cross borders. By emphasizing the core themes of internationalization, business-to- business sales, and cross-cultural communication, the program provides the path to becoming a valuable leader and sales professional. “(UEF website, IBS program)
