The changing student profile at Service, Hospitality and Tourism Management Programme in Denmark

Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance) as a theoretical foundation, this paper presents a two-phase qualitative research which aims to identify the reasons of different classroom and study behaviours of international and Danish students in the context of a short-cycle higher education programme in Hospitality and Tourist management in Denmark. The findings indicate that the international students (originating from countries of East Central Europe and the Baltics) demonstrate more passive classroom behaviour and experience more challenges in implementing principles of problem based learning, in particular group work, due to exposure to different didactic approaches in their home countries. It is suggested that these differences should be recognized on the part of the study programme, and culture training and academic support with focus on PBL should be offered to new international students.