The challenges of a multicultural university environment in the era of crisis

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The challenges of a multicultural university
environment in the era of crisis

• Gyöngyi Pozsgai Attila Kajos Tímea Németh
• University of Pécs

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The aim of the presentation

• To examine how/if crisis can stimulate
  intercultural dialogue and multicultural
  environment at the universities by the growing
  number of international students
• To introduce the attitude of the international
  students towards the domestic students and
  through their relationships towards the domestic
  culture comparing these data with the attitude
  of our Hungarian students towards international
  students and their cultures
• Using the results of three surveys

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World trends

• Huge increase in international student enrollment
• 2001 1 million international students worldwide
• 2009 3,3 million international students
• 2025 8 million (UNESCO estimation)

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Reasons for growing importance of international
student recruitment in the era of crisis

• financial benefits
• 1.on institutional level to balance growing
  costs, decreasing govenmental support
• 2.on societal level - important financial
  commodity
• - contribution for the US economy 19 billion
  USD, UK economy 14 billion USD ( 2010)
• solution for demographic decline keeping the
  workplaces of the current lecturers, researchers
• bring new perspectives to the classroom
  experience - allow for home students to benefit
  from international experiences can help their
  future employability on international Labour
  Market

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University of Pécs

• Total student number ( 2010) 27 963
• International students ( 2010) 1762 6,3
• Largest international student groups come from
  Germany , Norway, Iran, Serbia, South Korea
• International programmes
• General Medicine and Dentistry in English and in
  German, Pharmacy in English
• BA programme in Business Administration and MsC
  in Applied Management (validated by Middlesex
  University, London)
• BA programme in Psychology

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Surveys

• Survey I. (2010)
• Aim To explore the motivations and decision
  making process of international students when
  choosing their place of study
• Methodology on-line questionnaire
• 72 completed questionnaires
• conducted among the international students of
  UP
• 2. Survey II. (2011)
• Aim To explore the attitude of foreign students
  to Hungarian students and culture
• Methodology standard on-line questionnaire
• Completed surveys 152
• 3. Survey III (2011)
• Aim To examine the attitude of Hungarian
  students to foreign students and their culture
• Methodology on-line questionnaire
• 103 completed questionnaires
• Carried out by 2 PhD students University of
  Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics

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Survey I.Main source of information about UP

• Sequence of importance
• The main source of information about the
  University of Pécs are the friends former and
  current international students of UP

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Benefits of studying abroad

• The third most important benefit is to learn
  about different cultures

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Survey II.Do you consider the University of Pécs
(UP) to have a mixture of different cultures?

• 97 of them find that UP provides a multicultural
  environment

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Do you consider that these cultures are respected?

• 85 of the students feel that the different
  cultures are respected - 15 have experienced
  the opposite

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Have you ever felt that you have been treated
differently due to your origin/culture?

• 32 of students experienced to have been treated
  differently due to their cultures/origin 68
  have not felt this

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How important do you think it is that you learn
about different cultures at UP ?

• 49 of students find it somewhat important to
  learn about the different cultures - 45
  think it is very important, 6 of students feel
  it is of no importance

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Are you aware of any activities taking place at
UP that make students aware of other cultures?

• 77 of students are aware of activities, events
  that introduce the different cultures of students
  , 23 are not

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Do you think that lecturers/ students at UP
respect other nations/cultures?

• 88 think that lecturers respect them, whereas
  12 think they dont
• 80 feel that students respect them whereas 20
  they dont

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Would you like to have more opportunities to
introduce your culture?

• About 50 of students would like to have more
  opportunties to introduce their cultures female
  students are more positive to do so

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Do you have any ideas that you think would help
UP to enrich the students multicultural
awareness

• Should organize more common events ( may be
  obligatory ones) for international and Hungarian
  students

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How much have you learnt about the Hungarian
culture since you have been enrolled?

• 48 learnt not too much about the culture of
  Hungary, whereas 26-26 learnt little and much

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Please list 5 words that describe Hungarian
culture

• From the responses we created groups of words
  categories absolute positive, mainly positive,
  neutral, mainly negative and absolute negative
• 55 have absolute positive or mainly positive
  attitude towards Hungarian culture, 22 neutral,
  23 negative or absolute negative

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Please list 5 words that describe Hungarian
culture

• Friendly
• Proud (of their country, proud of their
  culture,proud of their nationality )
• Wine
• Traditional
• Open

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What nationalies do your friends at the
university you spend most of your free-time
with - have?

• 35 make friends only with own nationality, 51
  with own and other nationality ( Hungarians
  excluded) - Only 14 of the international
  students spend their free-time with Hungarians

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How often do you meet Hungarian students at the
university?

• Most of them rarely or never meet them - only 27
  of the international students meet several
  times or every day with the Hungarian students

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If you spend your free-time rarely or never with
Hungarian students what is the reason for it?

• I simply spend my time with others/ I dont know
  any Hungarians
• Language barriers Hungarians dont speak
  English
• Hungarians do not want to make friends, they are
  very reserved
• Different schedule, no opportunity
• We have been socialized differently, we have no
  common topic
• Because we don't have so much connection, in
  this university nations are like bands. All of
  them sticks together and they don't like to spend
  their time with other nations so much
• It is very hard to get to know them. They tend
  to keep to themselves.

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Relationships between responses

• Those who feel that lecturers or students do not
  respect their cultures have more negative
  opinion about Hungarian culture
• Those who feel that students do not respect their
  cultures have no Hungarian friends at all
• Those who meet Hungarians more often feel that
  they have gained more information about the
  Hungarian culture
• Those who meet Hungarians every day or several
  times a week 100 feel that Hungarians respect
  other cultures
• The less time foreign students spend with
  Hungarians the more negative attitude they have
  about Hungarians

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Comparison of results Survey II. and III.Foreign
students Hungarian students

• Similar results were found -
• 32 of Hungarian students felt that students
  are treated differently due to their
  culture/origin
• The data show that appr. 90 of Hungarian
  students feel that lecturers respect other
  nations, 10 that they dont
• 20 of Hungarian students are on the opinion
  that students do not respect other nations, 80
  that they do

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Would you like to receive more opportunities to
introduce your culture/ learn about other
cultures?

• Hungarian students are more open to learn about
  the culture of foreign students

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How often do you spend your free-time with
Hungarian/ international students?

• Hungarian students spend a bit more time with
  international students

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What is the reason for not spending your
free-time with international students?

• lack of opportunities to meet them
• I dont know them
• there arent any common activities/events

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Final conclusion - questions

• Important element in motivation concerning
  studying abroad learning about other cultures
• Do the international students of UP learn about
  the culture of Hungary? Are they really open to
  learn about other cultures?
• and/or
• Do we provide enough assistance and opportunity
  for them?
• Most common word about Hungarian culture
  friendly
• If Hungarians are friendly why dont foreign
  studens make friends with them?
• Foreign language No 1 is English, most students
  have passed a language exam from English- what
  makes foreign students think that there is lack
  of English knowledge?

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Final conclusion- answers

• Most important source of information about a
  university are friends former and present
  students
• We have to make sure that our international
  students are MOST satisfied with the university
  and with their stay if we want them to
  recommend us/ help in our recruitment
• Financial crises can indeed stimulate to have
  more international students
• BUT
• that is not enough for a successful
  intercultural dialogue, and multicultural
  environment
• If we want to increase the number of
  international students we have to
• respect their culture and treat them equally
  make sure that all lecurers(!) and domestic
  students have a positive approach towards them
• arrange mixed classes and organize common
  cultural events
• provide more opportunities for international
  students to introduce their cultures
• stimulate our domestic students to assist in
  their integration
• find all ways to provide them with opportunitites
  to learn more about the Hungarian culture

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• Thank you very much for your attention!