Master’s Thesis: “The Travel Behaviour of Chinese International Students in Higher Education in Norway”
The number of international students studying in Norway has increased significantly the last couple of years. In 2016 the number of foreign students in Norway was 25 427, and out of these – 942 were Chinese, meaning that the Chinese student population is the fifth biggest foreign student population in Norway.
A common reason for wanting to study in Norway is due to the Norwegian landscape; its mountainous terrain and the activities that comes with it. Therefore, it is useful to better understand the traveling behavior of the foreign students to better cater to their needs and wants.
In 2016, Terry Lantai and Catalina Dospinescu at the University of Stavanger, decided to dig deeper into the traveling behavior of Chinese students in Norway and wrote their master’s thesis on the phenomenon. Whilst they found that overall the Chinese students were fascinated by the Norwegian nature and environment, the Chinese students would rather visit more popular tourist attractions. The reasons for this were mainly due to the lack of information, budget and time constraints . The study thus finds that there was no lack in the interest of the Chinese students in doing more adventurous and nature-based tourism activities, but that the lack of information, lack of equipment and perceived risks due to their lack of previous experience and adequate skills, all were decisive factors that prevented them from undertaking such tourism activities.
To learn more about Chinese students’ in Norway traveling behavior, please click here to read the master’s thesis.
Sources:
Senter for Internationalisering av Utdanning (SIU), 2017: Studentmobilitet 2015-16
Terry Lantai and Catalina Dospinescu, the University of Stavanger, 2016: “The Travel Behaviour of Chinese International Students in Higher Education in Norway“
