Studies or Leisure? : a Cross-cultural Comparison of Taiwanese and Norwegian Engineering Students' Preferences for University Life

Abstract

An insight into students' preferences and expectations of life at university is useful when trying to understand drop-out percentages and design study programs, especially in the global competition for students. This study focuses on Taiwanese and Norwegian students' preferences for life and activities at university. Hofstede's model was used to predict culture-related differences. A pairwise decision questionnaire was used to conduct measurements. A universal trend is that teamwork was considered most important, and teachers were considered to be less important. The most noticeable culture differences were that Taiwanese students preferred non-curricular values and Norwegian students preferred curricular values. The study discipline had little impact on students' preferences.