Nordic and Russian student and business perspectives on universities’ international activities

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to investigate university stakeholders’ attitudes to and engagement in the international cooperation activities of universities in the Nordic countries and Russia. This report aims to explore how companies and students are involved in the international activities of universities, what benefits they expect and what the potential areas for internationalisation development are. The data for this study were collected using semi-structured interviews with nine companies and a survey of over 200 students from the Nordic countries and Russia. The findings reveal that students and companies recognise the benefits of the international activities provided by universities. International exchange programmes, internships abroad and interaction with students from other countries are considered important parts of the studies. The most common mode of the international dimension of university-business cooperation is the supervision of international student teams’ projects and R&D projects, and the most preferable modes are international R&D projects and strategic cooperation with universities. Student and business representatives believe that universities should develop more practical aspects of internationalisation, such as collaborative international projects, traineeships in international companies and applied research. Higher education institutions are recommended to more actively promote international cooperation opportunities to companies to increase their awareness and consequent involvement. More intensive language courses and actions for more interaction between international and local students are suggested as the key directions for the improvement of students’ international experiences.