Assessing the international students’ engagement associated with the student government organizations: “Bridging” the gap in Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

The growing interest of students in participating in higher education has contributed to several declarations claiming the importance of engagement in university life and university governance. Following this pattern, with more international students on higher education mobility, previous researchers have primarily relied on studying those patterns correlated together. At Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), the International Strategy Office has conducted quantitative research examining the significant problems that the international students identify at the host institution, focusing on the ways of improvements, and finding out how could international students bridge the gap in a representative body that includes them in the decision-making. We have received permission to analyze the data collected and our findings have indicated the participants’ experiences highlighting their feelings of being different. Additionally, they indicate some strategies for the International Strategy Office to take into consideration, including the alliance to create an international student representative body to bridge the gap between international students and the home students at the host university.