International students like the country and the facilities but can feel a bit lost at times, according to the newest ISB survey.
International Student Barometer (ISB) is a benchmarking survey aimed at international students in which the students share their views of the university. The results will be compared to the other institutions across the world.
The ISB survey collected in autumn 2017 reveals that most of the international students are content with the University of Oulu and would recommend it as a study destination. Compared to the previous barometer the satisfaction has risen by 8 percent.
The university’s brand and the brand of Finland as a country were equally important to international students when picking a place to study. The significant influencers were the university’s website, friends studying at the university, and alumni.
International students think Finland has a good public transportation system and fast internet connections although the internet is not as fast as the students believed it to be before traveling to Finland.
Students from the non-EU countries thought that promise of the earning potential and job opportunities were high priority for them for choosing the University of Oulu as a study destination.
Facilities received a good grade from the international students. Especially liked were the buildings’ colorfulness and library’s combination of the physical books, electronic databases and study places.
International students want more communication
An international student will wait for a long time for information about acceptance. From application to the answer the time is nearly 80 days.
The quality of kummi (tutor) students varies a lot. Kummi can be an active helper or almost invisible. International students feel that it’s hard to connect with the domestic students. When arriving to Finland some students didn’t have their accommodation ready.
Integration can be made easier by meeting the staff, having a working internet connection and explaining the studying process, which will raise the study sense. International students feel that their knowledge of daily studying life is taken for granted when in reality they would like to get more advice.
Despite of high overall satisfaction there are 20 to 30 percent differences in satisfaction between faculties.
The survey was answered by nearly 111 000 international students from 129 institutions and 17 countries. From the University of Oulu 52 percent of the international students took part in the barometer. The results were presented by Nannette Ripmeester.
