Academic Sense of Belonging Among International Master's Students in a Finnish University
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Finland's national higher education policies, emphasising global competitiveness and international cooperation, have steadily increased international master's student enrolments. Yet, despite growing research on international students, significant gaps remain in the empirical understanding of how international master's students experience academic life, especially within Finnish university contexts, which is at the heart of this study: “Academic Sense of Belonging Among International Master’s Students in a Finnish University”.
This study aims to examine the interconnectedness between perceived academic support, perceived changes in academic expectations, and academic sense of belonging among international master's students at a Finnish university. Two research questions that guided the inquiry are: “What is the connection between perceived academic support and academic sense of belonging?” and “What is the connection between perceived changes in academic expectations and academic sense of belonging?” Accordingly, two hypotheses (H) were tested: H1 predicted a positive association between perceived academic support and academic sense of belonging, while H2 predicted a negative association between perceived changes in academic expectations and academic sense of belonging.
A quantitative method of analysis was employed, with 89 international master's students completing a structured questionnaire. SPSS and Webropol analytical components were used to analyse the structured items, while the open responses at the end of the questionnaire were analysed using NVivo.
The results of the quantitative analysis show that international master's students at the participating Finnish university reported a generally positive academic sense of belonging; perceived academic support strongly correlated with academic sense of belonging, explaining 46.1% of the variance in belonging scores; and perceived changes in academic expectations were not significantly associated with belonging, contradicting one of the initial hypotheses. No significant differences in belonging were found across demographic or academic subgroups.
Findings suggest that investments in academic support and attention to clarity of expectations are essential for fostering inclusive academic environments. The study extends Strayhorn's belonging framework to international master's students and applies Gale and Parker's "transition as becoming" perspective. Additional dimensions of academic belonging and better operationalisation of constructs are discussed for future projects.