Profiling Norwegian business students considering studying abroad through credit mobility

Abstract

Background: Governments want students to gain an international learning experience by taking part of their study abroad through credit mobility. Only a few students are interested to take up this call to study abroad. Aim: We study students’ motivation for partaking in credit mobility and whether students’ preferences for studying abroad can be profiled according to their motivation and socio-demographic characteristics. This study sheds light on the motivational and constraining factors that students consider when deciding to take part in their study abroad or not. Setting: We study Norwegian business bachelor students in their 2nd year, at the time they need to take a decision for partaking in credit mobility. Methods: This is a quantitative study applying principal correspondence analysis based on survey data collected among 2nd-year business bachelor students at a business school. Results: The results show that students perceive that different countries or regions provide different benefits and drawbacks related to a credit mobility study situation. Conclusion: Students consider their living situation, the safety and utility of the study to stay abroad, the benefit of alternative use of time, the extent to which the student views this as academically possible, and whether it is possible and wise to study abroad in a given country. Contribution: We report students’ preferences when selecting the host country for their potential credit mobility study. These inputs could inform credit mobility offerings, allowing the supply and demand of where and how students want to study abroad, to be met in a better way.

Keywords

• study abroad
• credit mobility
• student preferences
• motivational and constraining factors
• sociodemographic characteristics
• business students
• survey
• norway.