Purpose: To create an understanding of how foreign students perceive the communication they receive from universities and colleges before and during exchanges with regard to cultural differences. Theory: The theoretical framework of this study is based on three different theories and prior research. The three theories are Shannon & Weaver’s (1963) The Linear Communication Model, Duncan & Moriarty’s (1998) The Scope of Marketing Communications and Hofstede et als (2011) cultural theories. Scientific articles on culture and communication were used to see how university communication is applied in practice. Method: The research has been conducted with a qualitative research with a deductive approach. Two focus groups took place in order to carry through with the research. These groups equally consisted of four participants each. The topics of the discussion amongst them were culture and communication. The participants are foreign students studying at Södertörn University College in Stockholm during the spring semester of 2016. The selection of participants was made with a convenience sample where contact was made through email invitations of participation in a focus group. Conclusion: The study has shown that all of the participating foreign students perceived the communication they had with the Swedish university as effective and informative. It was also clearly for them whom they could go to when help was needed in certain matters. Additionally, it was also shown that cultural differences have a moderate effect on the perception of the communication in the organizational culture of higher education. / Syfte: Att skapa förståelse för hur utländska studenter uppfattar den kommunikation de får från universiteten och högskolorna inför och under utlandsstudier med hänsyn till olika kulturella skillnader. Teori: Den teoretiska referensramen i denna studie bygger på tre olika teorier och tidigare forskning. De tre teorierna är Shannon & Weavers (1963) Linjära kommunikationsmodell, Duncan & Moriartys (1998) Omfattningen av marknads- kommunikation samt Hofstede et als (2011) kulturteorier. Vetenskapliga artiklar inom kultur och kommunikation användes för att se hur universitetskommunikation ser ut i praktiken. Metod: Forskningen har bedrivits med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod som har en deduktiv ansats. För att få fram studiens resultat har två fokusgrupper genomförts med fyra deltagare i varje grupp, där en diskussion kring teman kultur och kommunikation fördes. Deltagarna är utländska studenter som studerar vid Södertörns Högskola i Stockholm under vårterminen 2016. Urvalet av deltagarna gjordes med ett bekvämlighetsurval där kontakt togs genom utskick av mail med inbjudan om deltagande i fokusgrupp. Slutsats: Studien har visat att samtliga utländska studenter uppfattar den kommunikation som de får från svenska universitet som effektiv, informativ samt att det är tydligt vem de ska ta kontakt med beroende på vad för sorts hjälp de behöver. Det har även visats att kulturella skillnader har måttlig påverkan på hur de uppfattar kommunikationen vid högskolan som organisation vilka alla är en del av.

This study specifically aimed to understand, through the lens of the participants, how a six-month transformative curriculum with a specific social justice agenda later shaped their relationship with social justice and prosocial activism. The Holocaust March of Remembrance and Hope Curriculum (MRHC) included a five-month preparatory course, a nine-day immersion in Holocaust history through the March of Remembrance and Hopes study tour in Poland, and a post-trip meeting to present student projects. This study is qualitative in nature and was primarily based on three, sixty-minute interview sessions for each participant. Participants were recruited from the eleven (Mid-western university) students who participated in the journey. Interview questions focused on participants life history relative to racism and discrimination, trip memories, and themes surrounding their current motivation to promote social justice. Each interview was transcribed verbatim by the principal investigator and was analyzed through a constant comparative method. Five major themes emerged across the data as a whole. First, participants definitions of what exactly makes up social justice demonstrated that participants frequently discredited microlevel actions such as addressing a racist joke by indicating this was not large enough to be considered a social action. A second theme which emerged was the powerful impact of one Holocaust survivor on participants life directions in terms of specifically feeling a strong sense of responsibility to promote social equality. Third, participants experiences of the trip mirrored transformative learning models. However, two additional components were needed within the adult learning models that could be tailored for a diversity course with a specific social justice agenda. These components included providing students with ongoing support as well as social activist role-training in order to further integrate the lessons from the journey. Fourth, participants awareness of their own social identities influenced which groups later gained the most attention in terms of advocacy.

Föreliggande studie inriktar sig på hur jag som student i en viss kulturell och social struktur påverkas inlärningsmässigt och uttrycksmässigt i musikundervisningen av att komma till en musikalisk miljö där andra kulturella och sociala strukturer är normativa. Studien är etnografiskt inspirerad och utgår från en statisk-dynamisk analysteknik där videoinspelningar och loggboksanteckningar ligger till grund för det insamlade material som analyseras. Resultatet behandlar de aktiviteter som spelat stor roll, både negativt och positivt, i min musikaliska, sociala och personlighetsmässiga utveckling och beskriver också hur dessa aktiviteter förändras under studiernas gång. De aktiviteter som spelat stor roll under utlandsstudierna är främst mina trumpetlektioner, med kommunikation, teknik och musikaliska uttryck som underrubriker, det sociala livet i och utanför skolan och min musikaliska resa utanför skolan. I diskussionen tar jag bland annat upp den förvirring och frustration som mina trumpetlektioner skapade och hur mina inledande ensamhetskänslor låg till grund för min personliga utveckling. Jag diskuterar också vikten av att vara en del av ett tryggt socialt sammanhang och hur mitt sociala liv påverkade min inlärning. / The study focuses on how I as a student in a certain cultural and social structure am affected both learning and expression wise in the music education by entering a musical environment where other cultural and social structures are normative. The study is ethnographically inspired and based on a static-dynamic analysis technique where video recordings and reading logs is the underlying material. The result shows the activities that have played a major role, both negatively and positively, in my musical, social and personal development and also describes how these activities change during the time of the study. The activities that have played a big role during my studies abroad are primarily my trumpet lessons, with communication, technique and musical expressions as subheads, the social life in and outside of school and my musical journey outside of school. In the discussion I describe and discuss the confusion and frustration that my trumpet lessons created and how my initial feelings of loneliness was the base of my personal development. I also discuss the importance of a secure social context and how my social life affected my learning.