What makes Finnish education attractive to West African students: A case study of Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Finnish education has been ranked among the best in the world in recent years, thereby attracting students from all over the world. Therefore, it is important for various tertiary institutions in Finland to position them-selves as the first choice of students. In recent years, Savonia University of Applied Sciences (Savonia UAS) has attracted interest from students from various parts of the world. To this end, the objectives of this thesis are to examine what makes Savonia UAS attractive to West African students. Also, this thesis examines the level of satisfaction of the presently enrolled West African students at Savonia UAS. Furthermore, it examines the internationalization drive at Savonia UAS and its potential ad-vantage to the school. The results from these findings formed the basis for the strength, weakness, opportuni-ty, and threat (SWOT) analysis based on the West African region. A qualitative research method was implemented in the thesis to address the research questions. This approach has been chosen because it gives the opportunity of collecting non-standardized data. A hybrid method of inter-view and questionnaire was implemented to answer the research objectives. It was found that the quality course curriculum, learning environment, reasonable amount of the tuition fees, and scholarship included in the school fees were why West African students chose Savonia UAS. Also, 78.6% of these students agree that the internationalization drive is in the right direction. The students are satisfied with the curriculum and teacher-to-student relationships. Although, efforts should be made to improve the relation-ships between the local students (Finnish students) and international students. Furthermore, efforts should be made to improve the marketing of Savonia UAS. The area of social media marketing should be explored. To conclude, the competitive edge of Savonia UAS over other Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland is mainly due to its reasonable amount of tuition fees and standardized curriculum. Therefore, efforts should be taken by the Management of Savonia UAS to ensure that at least, a committee is established to ensure that the school fees remain reasonable, considering that students from the developing world would have to pay a tuition fee. In addition, the school should establish a relationship with experts in the industry to ensure that the cur-riculum remains relevant, modern, and targeted at industrial innovations