More or less engaged in doctoral studies? Domestic and international students’ satisfaction and motivation for doctoral studies in Finland

This study examines whether students who started their doctoral degree with different motivation profiles differ in their emotional engagement in their studies, and how this pattern differs between domestic and international students in Finland. This study used survey data collected from 1064 domestic and 120 international students. The results showed that students who started their degree with a low motivation to extend their career prospects were significantly less satisfied with their studies. Interestingly, the students in the group with the lowest level of interest in their research work were nonetheless fairly satisfied in their studies if their motivation to develop their career prospects was at a moderate level. The international students embarked upon their doctoral programmes with a greater wish to develop their career prospects and were more satisfied with their doctoral studies. The discussion emphasises that students, specifically domestic students, become more aware of the meaningfulness of doctoral studies for their career opportunities, which helped them to engage more positively with their doctoral studies.