Based on interviews with fourteen Korean exchange students at Swedish host universities, this paper investigates how they interacted with the other students at the host universities during their exchange programme.
The number of international students (including both free movers and exchange students) is often used to indicate the degree of internationalisation of a university. The international students are also assumed to assist the so-called “internationalization at home” - i.e., different internationalization initiatives for those students who choose not to study abroad - by sharing their experiences and cultures with the domestic students at the host universities. Nevertheless, it is reported that interactions between international and domestic students are not always as intense as the intention in policy documents and that the international students are more likely to interact with other international students or co-nationals.
By following the Korean exchange students during their exchange programme and drawing upon Actor-network theory (ANT), this study explores where and with whom the Korean exchange students interacted and which network they were enrolled in as an effect.
The results show that introduction courses, international master courses in English, residence areas, international students’ pubs at the host universities and a Korean church in a Swedish city were significant spaces for their networking in Sweden. These spaces introduced the Korean exchange students to other international students, with whom they spent most time during the programme and organised studies and activities together. They were nodes of network of international students at the host universities. In these spaces, the Swedish students were not present. The paper concludes that even though the Swedish students and the exchange students were at the same place, “at the university”, they moved differently and were separated from each other; the exchange students were not enrolled in a network where the Swedish student were enrolled and the Swedish students were not present in networks in which international students were actors.