Hur bra är de svenska universiteten och högskolorna på att kommunicera till utländska studenter? : En kvalitativ studie om hur utländska studenter uppfattar svenska högskolor och universitets kommunikation inför och under utbytesstudier

Sammanfattning: Purpose: To create an understanding of how foreign students perceive the communication they receive from universities and colleges before and during exchanges with regard to cultural differences. Theory: The theoretical framework of this study is based on three different theories and prior research. The three theories are Shannon & Weaver’s (1963) The Linear Communication Model, Duncan & Moriarty’s (1998) The Scope of Marketing Communications and Hofstede et als (2011) cultural theories. Scientific articles on culture and communication were used to see how university communication is applied in practice. Method: The research has been conducted with a qualitative research with a deductive approach. Two focus groups took place in order to carry through with the research. These groups equally consisted of four participants each. The topics of the discussion amongst them were culture and communication. The participants are foreign students studying at Södertörn University College in Stockholm during the spring semester of 2016. The selection of participants was made with a convenience sample where contact was made through email invitations of participation in a focus group. Conclusion: The study has shown that all of the participating foreign students perceived the communication they had with the Swedish university as effective and informative. It was also clearly for them whom they could go to when help was needed in certain matters. Additionally, it was also shown that cultural differences have a moderate effect on the perception of the communication in the organizational culture of higher education.