Institutional support of Finnish universities : Bangladeshi students’ experiences

Abstract

This paper examines Bangladeshi students’ reasons of feeling anxious when they go abroad for higher education and their perception on institutional support that helps them in managing anxiety which eventually leads to effective communication. As international student population cannot be considered as one homogeneous group, studying Bangladeshi students’ perceptions and viewpoints brought out interesting insights.

Research questions were derived on the basis of Gudykunst’s (2005) Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory. The theory suggests that managing two basic factors-anxiety and uncertainty is the key to build effective communication in intercultural settings. In this paper, only one factor-anxiety has been examined of Bangladeshi students in the Finnish universities. Qualitative thematic analysis has been used as a research method. Semi-structured interviews of 6 participants were analyzed to find the answers of the research questions.

Findings of the research supported AUM theory and revealed that linguistic, cultural/religious and academic differences gave rise to anxiety among Bangladeshi students. Supportive teachers, other staff members and the university environment helped these students in reducing anxiety and thus, effective communication was possible.