In what ways, if any, does student exchange promote interaction with the culture of the host country? – Experiences of students going abroad to Norway on the Erasmus+ exchange programme

In the following master thesis, I examine whether a student exchange with the Erasmus+ programme promotes the interaction with the culture of the host country. I analyse and describe the experiences of six Erasmus students with different cultural backgrounds that are going on a student exchange to Stavanger in Norway. While all participants showed a general interest in the Nordic countries, there are four main barriers keeping the exchange students from engaging with Norwegian people and their culture. These four barriers include the language, the culture, the university, and living the same experience as Erasmus students. I analyse these barriers by applying Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) systems theory and the theory of social identity by Tajfel and Turner (1979) and locate these barriers to current literature on the subject matter. Overall, it seems that a student exchange does promote the interaction with different cultures, however, not necessarily with the culture of the host country. Based on the interviews, I discuss ways in which this interaction can be potentially improved.