Comparison of the personal and cultural change taking place between EU Erasmus students and Turkish Erasmus students (within the sample of Adam Mickiewicz University in city of Poznan, Poland)

It is determined that the state of belonging to religion, nation and country is top priority in the minds of Turkish students as well as EU students during the Erasmus Program.

Abstract

This study is based on a questionnaire that is implemented to measure and evaluate the culturaland personal changes experienced by Turkish students and Adam Mickiewicz Universitystudents who receive education within the framework of the Erasmus Student ExchangeProgram in the city of Poznan, Poland. Our objective was to make a comparison of the personaland cultural change taking place between European Union (EU) students and Turkishstudents throughout Erasmus Student Exchange Program. The subjects of this researchincluded EU member students from Adam Mickiewicz University and Turkish Erasmusstudents. A total of 257 Erasmus students were included. With 102 randomly selectedstudents, face-to-face interviews have been conducted. As this was a comparative study, datahas been categorized under two titles: Turkish Students and Students of European Unionmember countries. Frequency values of obtained data have been detected and the comparison ofeach group has been descriptively made over these values. Our research findings validate thatthroughout the Erasmus program certain personal changes occurred among students from theEU countries and from Turkey. Although Turkish students experienced many individualchanges during the Erasmus Program, this present study determined that the state of belongingto religion, nation and country is top priority in the minds of Turkish students. Our data hasshown that this state of belonging observable in Turkish students was not so intense in EUstudents.