Teaching Students in a Multicultural Environment

Abstract

Teaching students in a multicultural environment on the one hand requires significant financial resources to recruit, support, retain students, and on the other - students' self-motivation. The need to study different cultures affects the level of motivation to study abroad. The study aims to analyze quantitatively financial incentives as a factor in student learning in a multicultural environment, namely the relationship between financial aid, EU public spending on education and student mobility from Europe, Africa and Asia. The research methodology is based on correlation analysis and statistical analysis of student mobility indicators in Germany, France, Austria and Poland for 2013-2019. The results show differences in the policy of encouraging foreign students to study in a multicultural environment. Germany and France have the highest levels of student mobility, along with inefficient multicultural environments. Inefficiency of funding is confirmed by the low share of degree mobile graduates from abroad in mobile students from abroad enrolled in tertiary education, as well as the high share of foreign youth who do not work and study. Austria and Poland have lower levels of international student involvement, in particular, due to lower levels of financial support. This study proves that the effectiveness of multiculturalism policy will depend on the optimization and balance between funding of training programs for social inclusion, responsibility of students for the financial resources of countries financing their training, and motivation to study abroad. Governments should direct policies to encourage international students seeking to pursue their careers in a foreign country (country of study). The practical value lies in the possibility of incorporating the results into national strategies for the recruitment and retention of foreign students by strengthening the responsibility for funding tuition.