Research data of a Master's thesis: "Developing mutually beneficial understandings of academic cultures in an international higher education Master' s degree programme"

The data collection set consist of eight pair interviews, which took place between the 24th of April 2017 and the 17th of May 2017 with an average length of 59 minutes. The average age of the 16 participants was 28 years. The majority of the participants were female (69%), males were represented by 31%; 69% came from the Educational Leadership programme, and 31% from the Educational Sciences programme (both Master degree programmes at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland); 44% were first-year students and 56% second-year students. In total, 12 nationalities and 11 ‘first languages’ were represented in the discussions. The discussions focused on what it means to study in an academic environment in a Finnish higher education institution - in this case the University of Jyväskylä. The aim of the interviews is to provide the students an opportunity to share their experiences and thoughts with specific focus on their engagement in academic work and the academic environment. The main themes include individual experiences, group work experiences, support measures and recommendations.