Language barriers of students in higher education: Survey at Lund University

Abstract

The number of international students enrolled in higher education programmes in Sweden has increased greatly in the past few decades. This report discusses the issues brought forth by the varying proficiencies in both Swedish and English of students from domestic and international backgrounds.

We conducted an online survey of 65 students at Lund University on their perceived language barriers. The results of the survey show that 40% of the students consider their language skills to negatively impact their academic performance, which could be tackled with teaching methods focusing more on group work and language-focused individual study plans.