| Title: | Exploring the impact of digital communication on the academic and social integration of erasmus students : doctor of philosophy thesis |
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| Authors: | ID Senci, Vida (Author)
ID Kožuh, Ines (Mentor) More about this mentor... 
ID Koris, Rita (Mentor) More about this mentor... |
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| Files: |  DOK_Senci_Vida_2025.pdf (3,15 MB)
MD5: FFAEE608DAA259C81F391439A5E781C2
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Doctoral dissertation |
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| Typology: | 2.08 - Doctoral Dissertation |
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| Organization: | FERI - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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| Abstract: | The Erasmus+ programme is the European Union programme supporting actions in education and training, youth, and sport. Numerous students participate in and gain several benefits of the Erasmus+ European exchange programme. Although Erasmus+ is often understood as an educational programme, with success measured in terms of credentials or course credits, the programme also stresses the importance of personal development. Although studies have shown that developing close relationships with host nationals increases life quality and academic performance while reducing stress levels, an issue most frequently related to mobility is insufficient social integration with host students. In literature, there is a lack of research, providing an efficient response to the issue of social integration and, thus, suggesting approaches towards boosting social integration of Erasmus students with host nationals. Also, as the COVID-19 pandemic was a unique historical moment that disrupted socialisation and everyday life in general as well as education, it was important to examine its effect on student integration. Accordingly, the lessons learned from this unique societal phenomenon lead us further to examine the post-pandemic student integration. Following Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory and Bochner’s international student friendship network model, while considering that technology and digital communication are an active enabler for creating connections, the objective of our research was dual. Firstly, we aimed to understand the factors affecting student integration in challenging societal situations, and, secondly, we proposed a novel conceptual model of how social integration is explained by academic integration, digital communication and student satisfaction with the learning environment. The study was based on an explanatory design of mixed method research on a sample of Erasmus+ students in Croatia. Qualitative data were collected through the interviews, while quantitative data were retrieved with an online survey questionnaire and structural equation modelling was employed to examine the data. The findings of the qualitative research revealed that Erasmus+ students showed low social integration with Croatian students, while the pandemic and lockdown have not had an important impact on their daily routines and only moderately affected the integration level. These findings also showed that the most frequently used mobile application (for communication and initiation of social activities) among Erasmus+ students WhatsApp and that most online and offline social activities were initiated by communication through WhatsApp. Qualitative findings also showed that students appreciated and welcomed the host HEI’s initiative for inclusion and integration. Following the qualitative research, quantitative research also showed that WhatsApp is the dominant communication platform, while Instagram is used for content-sharing. Furthermore, digital communication with the local university environment had a significant positive effect on social integration with host university students, while peer digital communication within the Erasmus community had a strong positive effect on social integration within that community. Additionally, qualitative research showed that academic integration significantly and positively predicted both forms of social integration - with host university students and with Erasmus student. In terms of theoretical implications, the findings of our study revealed that Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory has a potential to be applicable in the context of digital communication as well, as we found that students most often use WhatsApp for communication with local students at the host university, thus enabling connection vital to integration, while the practical implications show that digital communication tools have a vast potential in increasing the integration of host and Erasmus+ incoming students. |
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| Keywords: | Erasmus+, cross-cultural adaptation theory, higher education, social integration, digital communication, COVID-19 |
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| Place of publishing: | Maribor |
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| Place of performance: | Maribor |
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| Publisher: | [V. Senci] |
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| Year of publishing: | 2025 |
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| Number of pages: | 172 f. |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-96154 |
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| UDC: | 316.772.5:316.4.063.3-057.875(4-6EU)(043.3) |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 286944771 |
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 03.08.2026 |
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| Views: | 207 |
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| Downloads: | 9 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | KTFMB - FERI
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