| dc.description.abstract | The University of Agder is an international university, that welcomes over 350 exchange
students every year. Local internationalization is one of the main priorities of UiA’s strategy.
The way UiA communicates with international students affects many aspects of local
internationalization. This research aims to define What role does communication play in local
internationalization?
To answer this research question, it was necessary to study communication with international
students, define main strategies and evaluate the outcomes of communication. The sub-questions of this research are:
1) How and for what purposes does UiA communicate with international students?
2) What communication strategies are used for communication with international
students?
3) What are the outcomes of the current communication system?
The theoretical basis of the thesis includes early research of international students in Norway,
corporate communication theory, and organizational communication theory. To build an
understanding of communication strategies, this research introduces excellence theory,
integration of communication disciplines, dialog and rhetoric theoretical approaches.
The methodological framework includes qualitative semi-structured interviews for data
collection, and thematic analysis approach to analyze the data. Participants in this research
are representatives of four UiA organizations: The Global Lounge, the International Office,
the Communication Division and The Student Organization in Agder.
Analysis of findings helped to define three main purposes of communication with
international students. The findings reveal main strategies, where the establishment of the
Global Lounge is a central strategy to build close relations with international students. It was
also founded, that other organizations at UiA, that do not work with an international audience
in particular, have no established relations with international students. Therefore, their
communication activities do not always include international students. There are several
outcomes of the current communication system at UiA which affect local
internationalization. Communication that is carried out by the organizations that work with an
international audience, ensures the well-being of international students and unites
international students. While overall communication at UiA, which includes other
organizations, does not promote interaction between international and national students. | |