Studying online in international Master’s engineering programs: lessons learnt from a pandemic

Other conference contribution, 2021

From spring 2020, when the pandemic struck, university learning took on a different form. Globally and often with very short notice, campus programs went online, at least in part. In Sweden, and the technical university where this study is situated, most teaching at master’s level similarly took place online and since students could work from home, this meant international students could stay in their home countries. When the new intake started in the autumn, many of them did this – at least at the start – either through choice or more formal barriers put up by the pandemic. This study aimed to follow home and international students’ experiences and adaptation to the formal and informal curriculum in the international environment at master’s level during the pandemic.  In particular, this study aims to show how the new study situation provided a new perspective to internationalization at home and the lessons that can be learnt in moving forward in higher education.