Student Survey Summary
Academic Years 2019/2020 – 2021/2022
Background
In order to evaluate the impact and the extend of the InComm objectives, surveys’ were sent to national and international Master and PhD students. In this survey, three main dimensions were assessed: the level of integration at each university through academic and non-academic activities, the level of integration in the internal and external community, and the feeling of belonging to the community.
The survey results are supported by a statistical analysis of different indicators, collected before and after the InComm development. These indicators are intended to evaluate the project with regard to ability of each university to maintain or increase their international attractiveness (measured by the number of international students), increase the international students’ feeling of belonging to the community and increase the number of activities/collaborations with external entities involved in the society.
IST Lisboa is responsible for Intellectual Output 1 – State of the Art & Needs of the Target Group and Stakeholders
Partners
- Eindhoven University of Technology
- Instituto Superior Técnico
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm
- Technische Universität Darmstadt
- Technische Universität Graz
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Goal
Through the InComm Student Survey, our goal is to map the latest trends in the integration of the international community
To do this, we collected data taking the following into consideration:
- geographical differences among the project partners
- diversity in all aspects of the project to safeguard inclusion and to avoid biases on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religious orientation, sexual orientation and disabilities
Target Groups
National and international:
• Master’s students (full degree)
• PhD’s
The project addresses the full university community, more specifically the newcomers.
Results
Responses by University
| University | Surveyed | Master’s | PhD | Completed Responses | Completed Responses (Master’s) | Completed Responses (PhD) | % Completed Responses / Surveyed | % Total Completed Responses / Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eindhoven University of Technology | 280 | 199 | 81 | 169 | 108 | 61 | 60.4% | 22.3% |
| Instituto Superior Técnico | 356 | 242 | 114 | 172 | 101 | 71 | 48.3% | 22.7% |
| KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm | 211 | 211 | 116 | 116 | 0 | 55.0% | 15.3% | |
| Technische Universität Darmstadt | 86 | 86 | 57 | 57 | 0 | 66.3% | 7.5% | |
| Technische Universität Graz | 108 | 87 | 21 | 50 | 40 | 10 | 46.3% | 6.6% |
| Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya | 307 | 205 | 102 | 195 | 124 | 71 | 63.5% | 25.7% |
| Total | 1348 | 1030 | 318 | 759 | 546 | 213 | 56.3% | 100% |
Disclaimer: As the number of completed responses from TU Darmstadt and TU Graz were below the acceptable threshold, these results have been excluded from the following interpretations of survey results.
Graph: Results by Student Type
Table: Results by Student Type
| Category | National Students | International Students | Master’s Students | PhD Students | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication Local Language Skills | 4.21 | 4.14 | 4.42 | 4.21 | |
| Interest Local Language Skills | 6.18 | 6.10 | 6.43 | 6.18 | |
| Interesting Study Programme Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 5.61 | 6.50 | 7.69 | 6.28 | 7.30 |
| University’s Reputation Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 5.61 | 6.50 | 6.49 | 5.31 | 6.16 |
| Support and Guidance Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 6.39 | 6.76 | 6.63 | 6.55 | 6.61 |
| Bureaucratic / Legal Support Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 6.13 | 6.00 | 6.09 | 5.81 | 6.02 |
| Culture and Leisure Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 5.77 | 5.98 | 6.06 | 5.49 | 5.92 |
| Community Belonging Formalities First Days | 6.14 | 6.26 | 6.27 | 6.03 | 6.22 |
| Satisfaction Welcome Activities Formalities First Days | 6.39 | 6.29 | 6.34 | 6.26 | 6.32 |
| Bureaucratic / Legal Support Formalities First Days | 5.94 | 6.20 | 6.17 | 5.95 | 6.12 |
| Welcome Information Formalities First Days | 5.76 | 5.95 | 5.97 | 5.83 | 5.94 |
| Helpful Information Formalities First Days | 6.13 | 5.21 | 6.31 | 5.79 | 6.18 |
| Community Belonging Onboarding 1st 100 Days | 6.14 | 6.32 | 6.32 | 6.12 | 6.27 |
| International Classroom Environment Onboarding 1st 100 Days | 6.09 | 6.31 | 6.25 | 6.16 | 6.22 |
| Community Belonging Overall Feeling | 6.58 | 6.36 | 6.42 | 6.51 | 6.44 |
| Respect Overall Feeling | 6.73 | 6.96 | 6.82 | 6.98 | 6.86 |
| Equal Treatment Overall Feeling | 6.93 | 7.10 | 7.08 | 6.90 | 7.03 |
Interpretation: Traffic Light
To interpret our results, we decided to take a graphical approach. The traffic light shows the aspects of the Customer Journey (Local Language Skills; Attractiveness, Selection and Application; Formalities First Days; Onboarding 1st 100 Days; Overall Feeling) and their respective status (Not Good; To Be Improved; Good, But Can Be Improved; Excellent) at a glance. The following image shows the total results with the traffic light interpretation:
General Takeaways
Community Belonging
The feeling of community belonging is stronger in the first few days of welcoming compared with the following period (the first 100 days).
Student Comparisons
- PhD vs. Master Students: clear differences between PhD and Msc students’ perceptions
- International vs. National Students: unclear evidences about the expected gap between national and international students’ perceptions
Discrimination
6,57% of respondents reported experiencing discrimination.
- The most-reported form of discrimination, with 29 responses, is discrimination based on ethnicity.
- Other responses included discrimination based on: gender (17 responses), religion (4), age (17), sexual orientation (2) or disability (2).
In General
- The integration process is good enough, namely in the overall welcome activities, but less satisfactory in terms of department or university integration
- Satisfaction levels are well balanced at around 5.5-6.5 (on a scale of 1 to 10) or 70%-80%
Graph: Results by University
Below are the total results from the universities that participated in the survey:
Table: Results by University
| Category | TU Eindhoven | Técnico Lisboa | KTH Stockholm | Barcelona Tech | TU Darmstadt | TU Graz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication Local Language Skills | 3.54 | 4.23 | 3.63 | 4.73 | 4.77 | 4.52 |
| Interest Local Language Skills | 5.88 | 5.97 | 6.06 | 6.32 | 7.17 | 6.50 |
| Interesting Study Programme Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 8.08 | 5.60 | 8.60 | 6.88 | 8.74 | 8.20 |
| University’s Reputation Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 5.58 | 6.34 | 7.91 | 5.57 | 7.16 | 4.60 |
| Support and Guidance Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 6.98 | 6.00 | 7.13 | 6.63 | 6.85 | 6.20 |
| Bureaucratic / Legal Support Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 6.25 | 5.24 | 6.43 | 6.03 | 5.58 | 6.65 |
| Culture and Leisure Attractiveness, Selection and Application | 5.74 | 5.38 | 6.49 | 5.85 | 6.08 | 6.29 |
| Community Belonging Formalities First Days | 6.20 | 6.18 | 6.55 | 6.06 | 6.44 | 5.93 |
| Satisfaction Welcome Activities Formalities First Days | 6.59 | 6.11 | 6.67 | 6.15 | 6.07 | 5.83 |
| Bureaucratic / Legal Support Formalities First Days | 6.50 | 5.84 | 6.36 | 5.84 | 6.11 | 5.73 |
| Welcome Information Formalities First Days | 6.00 | 5.29 | 6.07 | 6.09 | 5.80 | 6.62 |
| Helpful Information Formalities First Days | 6.31 | 5.80 | 6.77 | 6.08 | 6.30 | 6.00 |
| Community Belonging Onboarding 1st 100 Days | 6.28 | 6.11 | 6.66 | 6.14 | 6.39 | 6.07 |
| International Classroom Environment Onboarding 1st 100 Days | 6.73 | 5.70 | 6.86 | 6.12 | 6.43 | 5.34 |
| Community Belonging Overall Feeling | 6.79 | 6.31 | 6.62 | 6.26 | 6.17 | 6.16 |
| Respect Overall Feeling | 7.31 | 6.29 | 7.20 | 6.85 | 6.81 | 6.64 |
| Equal Treatment Overall Feeling | 7.37 | 6.41 | 7.25 | 7.03 | 7.34 | 7.36 |