Abstract
LIFE SATISFACTION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN TURKEY: A CONTENT ANALYSIS STUDY
Internationalization is a trend topic for higher education context. Student mobility as a significant component of internationalization presents academic, social, political, and economic gains for higher education institutions. In this aspect, ensuring life satisfaction of international students is significant to utilize from opportunities. The purpose of the study is to synthesize research in Turkey in relation to life satisfaction of international student. Research synthesis was used as research design in the current study. Thirty-five studies were reviewed by following steps of systematic review. The researchers identified mostly life satisfaction domains as follow: academic, social and cultural, support service, and demographic effects. It was concluded that countries which are more developed, had western culture, and provided long standing internationalization activities connect satisfaction of international students to cultural issues and comparisons in macro level whereas the countries which are developing or undeveloped, had eastern context, and provided novice internationalization activities associate satisfaction of international students to tangible life situations. More empirical studies for future researchers and activities enhancing intercultural interaction for practitioners were recommended.
Keywords
Internationalization, life satisfaction, cultural diversity, research synthesis
