"You can't host someone without explaining the rules of the house" - A deeper insight into how international students make sense of Lund University's COVID-19 communication

Sammanfattning: “You can’t host someone without explaining the rules of the house” – How international students at Lund University make sense of Lund University’s COVID-19 communication, and how employees at Lund University’s Central External Relations team have assisted international students with sensegiving processes of Sweden’s COVID-19 recommendations and regulations. The present qualitative study analyzed how international students make sense of Lund University’s COVID-19 communication, as well as Sweden’s COVID-19 approach as communicated by specific employees at Lund University. Moreover, the study examined how employees at Lund University’s Central External Relations team have assisted the students with making sense of Sweden’s COVID-19 strategy. The theoretical framework centered on sensemaking, and the chosen research paradigm was symbolic interactionism. The data collection method included 17 semi-structured in-depth interviews, which were analyzed through a thematic content analysis. The themes obtained in the thematical content analysis were rooted in the sensemaking theory (Weick, 1995). The findings indicated that, in relation to the international students’ sensemaking processes, the existence of all seven characteristics. Additionally, two added concepts to the sensemaking theory were found concerning the findings from the Central External Relations team. Drawing on the findings from the research, the main argument is that most international students do not seek information from Lund University regarding the COVID-19 situation in Sweden, but rather how COVID-19 affects their studies. The study concludes that international students make sense of COVID-19 communication in a myriad of ways and that the employees have tried to assist the international students in their sensemaking processes, although not always strategically. The study ends with avenues for future research within the field of internationalization of higher education and health disaster communication.