International Student Mobility: An Empirical Study Based on FEUP Mechanical Engineering Data
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors, the presented article is very interesting, but it requires small corrections.
All the drawings are not very readable and need to be increased in resolution.
Author Response
Reviewer’s comments and Suggestions for Authors:
Dear authors, the presented article is very interesting, but it requires small corrections.
- All the drawings are not very readable and need to be increased in resolution.
Response:
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your effort and comments.
All drawings have been redone with improved resolution.
The English language of the new updated manuscript has been improved.
Reviewer 2 Report
1.I think that the study addressed an important topic in the field of higher education. The author(s )need to refer to international research on higher education. For instance, Bedenlier et al. (2018) review of research into the internationalization of higher education in the Journal of Studies in International Education (19970-2006) talks the stage of transnational context of internationalization that relevant research is in at present.
2.Line 220-224. Foreign language proficiency, especially English, is 221 considered crucial in the context of globalization and internationalization. Suggested references are as follow: 1,2,3,4,5
3.What exactly models do you use for this study? ADDIE? ARCS? What ????????? Make it more clear. please
- It is no denying that international student 28 flow is an efficient way of attracting future needed talents, and countries aiming to attract talents 29 from other countries can benefit from offering education for international students. Suggested references -------- ADDIE? ARCS?
- Discussion and suggestion requires more interpretations from the eastern or western philosophy. And, literature to be more beneficial to the researchers and the field.
6.Please illustrate your research framework with figures.
7.You need to well- illustrate your viewpoint by relating your own methodology.
8.Figures can help you to explain how the research work and provide international readership to get a better understanding for your academic works.
9.Make it more clear, please
- Reconfirm the Analysis of the Data, please .
- Updates your references, please. ( 2017-2020)
Suggested references:
- English e- learning in the virtual classroom and the factors that influence ESL (English as a Second Language): Taiwanese citizens’ acceptance and use of the Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment
2. Understanding the needs and criteria of employees in the electronics industry for English e-learning website programs
3. An Empirical Study of How the Learning Attitudes of College Students toward English E-Tutoring Websites Affect Site Sustainability
4. Designing a System for English Evaluation and Teaching Devices: A PZB and TAM Model Analysis
5. Application of Information Technology in Preschool Aesthetic Teaching from the Perspective of Sustainable Management
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your effort and comments.
Comments and Suggestions for Authors:
1.I think that the study addressed an important topic in the field of higher education. The author(s )need to refer to international research on higher education. For instance, Bedenlier et al. (2018) review of research into the internationalization of higher education in the Journal of Studies in International Education (1970-2006) talks the stage of transnational context of internationalization that relevant research is in at present.
Response: Thank you very much for your suggested reference. Indeed Bedenlier et al. (2018) review of research must be referred and addressed in this manuscript. Reference was made and a new paragraph was added at the introduction.
2.Line 220-224. Foreign language proficiency, especially English, is 221 considered crucial in the context of globalization and internationalization. Suggested references are as follow: 1,2,3,4,5
Response: Thank you very much for your suggested references. Reference is made to three of the suggested articles since the English proficiency in the manuscript addresses University students. A new paragraph was added at section 2, when promoting the general characteristics of outgoing mobility students.
3.What exactly models do you use for this study? ADDIE? ARCS? What ????????? Make it more clear. please
Response: The ARCS model looks at four components of motivation: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. Pushing internationalization, students are clearly being motivated according to the four components. A set of lines on the first paragraph of section 4. Concluding remarks is dedicated to the subject. Reference is made to the John Keller's model.
- It is no denying that international student 28 flow is an efficient way of attracting future needed talents, and countries aiming to attract talents 29 from other countries can benefit from offering education for international students. Suggested references -------- ADDIE? ARCS?
Response: Yes, every degree, faculty or country will benefit from offering education to international students. Other more industrialized countries offering better payed careers are attracting the Portuguese talents and school needs to rethink the way to encourage the other way around, that is, how to attract talents to Portugal. At the moment MIEM curriculum is moving from a five-year degree to a separate three (first) plus two (master) degrees in order to offer a larger range of courses taught in English to a larger group of international students. That will hopefully increase the mobility of lecturers as well. Motivation and associated to ARCS model seems to be the key issue for small countries with high quality of education such as Portugal. Future will certainly bring very specialized industry attracting talented young engineers. The concluding remarks address this particular issue.
- Discussion and suggestion requires more interpretations from the eastern or western philosophy. And, literature to be more beneficial to the researchers and the field.
Response: Easter or Western philosophy is indeed a very interesting subject that falls outside the scope of the presented study. Thank you very much for your interesting suggestions that hopefully will enrich our research and further publications.
6.Please illustrate your research framework with figures. 7.You need to well- illustrate your viewpoint by relating your own methodology. 8.Figures can help you to explain how the research work and provide international readership to get a better understanding for your academic works. 9. Make it more clear, please
Response to point 6, 7 8 and 9: Thank you very much for your interesting suggestions that hopefully will enrich our research and contribute to further publications. The present work reports on data collected from just a small group of students (one academic year of a specific degree) but it is important to make it available to the international community so that similar faculties struggling for internationalization can benefit from it. It is our intention to continue this research for the years to come and new results will be reported to the international community. Moreover, your suggested references will be used as a leading direction to learn how to illustrate the research framework.
- Reconfirm the Analysis of the Data, please .
Response: The analysis of the data has been confirmed and carefully reviewed.
- Updates your references, please. ( 2017-2020)
Response: References were updated introducing published articles in this subject.
Finally, the English language of the new updated manuscript has been improved.
Reviewer 3 Report
I suggest that the authors continue their research for the next 2 years.
Author Response
Reviewer’s comments and Suggestions for Authors: I suggest that the authors continue their research for the next 2 years.
Author's Reply to the Review Report:
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your effort and comments.
Yes, we intend to continue our research for the years to come and new results will be reported to the international community. The COVID situation has diminished the number of students engaged in mobility and new numbers will be reported and analyzed.
The English language of the new updated manuscript has been improved.
Reviewer 4 Report
The paper presents a study on international student mobility. This topic is interesting for many educational institutions which aim to increase their outgoing student mobility.
Unfortunately the paper does not go in depth in exploring the topic. The literature review is based only on a small number of publications, although there are hundreds of research papers on student mobility in recent years.
The presentation of outgoing student mobility at MIEM goes into a level of detail which is not interesting to a wider audience. For examples, Tables 1 and 2 with detailed mobility numbers by countries take up approximately one page. It would be sufficient, if the main target countries of outgoing mobility are summarized with one or two text paragraphs. This section also rises interesting questions, which are not addressed by the questionnaire. For example, which are the main push and pull factors behind specific countries.
The survey remains in a very general level. While the results are useful for MIEM, they lack interest to a wider group of readers. The analysis remains only at the level of basic descriptive statistics. The paper does not have a proper discussion section, which would highlight the implications of the study, discuss the limitations, compare the results with previous research etc.
Considering these shortcomings, I have to suggest rejecting this submission.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your effort and comments.
Comments and Suggestions for Authors:
- The paper presents a study on international student mobility. This topic is interesting for many educational institutions which aim to increase their outgoing student mobility.
Response: Thank you very much for your comment. Portugal is a small country and lately we have been increasing the student outgoing mobility mainly due to financial support from the European Union. The ongoing discussion is how to increased incoming mobility. We need to internationally attract talented students so that our faculty and our degree gets a high standard sustainable level.
- Unfortunately the paper does not go in depth in exploring the topic. The literature review is based only on a small number of publications, although there are hundreds of research papers on student mobility in recent years.
Response: Thank you very much for your comment. The literature review has been enlarged and references were updated to include recent research papers on the subject.
- The presentation of outgoing student mobility at MIEM goes into a level of detail which is not interesting to a wider audience. For examples, Tables 1 and 2 with detailed mobility numbers by countries take up approximately one page. It would be sufficient, if the main target countries of outgoing mobility are summarized with one or two text paragraphs. This section also rises interesting questions, which are not addressed by the questionnaire. For example, which are the main push and pull factors behind specific countries.
Response: Thank you very much for your comment. Small countries (like Portugal) need to be notified by their rather small international mobility. If only large numbers would appear in international reports then there would be no enrichment through diversity. Globalization is a fact and we need to profit from it. Every faculty can be globally enriched and the report on the return of MIEM students that succeed internationally will hopefully attract to Portugal talented students even from small and exotic countries. Curiously we had one student going to Bosnia and the year after Bosnian students and faculty members became interested in our faculty. This is among others one of the reasons why we have decided to maintain the tables. Nevertheless, the justification of long tables as well as why to present the separation into European and non-European destinations was added into the updated version of the paper.
Mobility is also a political issue that is not within the scope of the presented article. The suggestion of the discussing the main factors behind specific mobility numbers is a very interesting subject. Our degree is moving from a 5-year degree to a 3+2 degree being the 2-year degree a master degree fully taught in English. That will certainly represent a leverage enabling comparison with other specific host countries.
- The survey remains in a very general level. While the results are useful for MIEM, they lack interest to a wider group of readers. The analysis remains only at the level of basic descriptive statistics. The paper does not have a proper discussion section, which would highlight the implications of the study, discuss the limitations, compare the results with previous research etc.
Response: Thank you very much for your comments. Yes, the results are useful for MIEM and hopefully for other engineering degrees struggling to attract talented students and staff members.
The manuscript has been improved following your suggestions.
Round 2
Reviewer 4 Report
Thank you for the revised version of the paper. The extended literature review and additions to the manuscript make it sufficient for a journal publication. Some additions that you have made based on reviewers' comments to Section 4 look artificial to me:
- I suggest to remove sentence "The presented descriptive statistics is important to describe the facts of outgoing mobility at MIEM." (line 269) which you have added as a response to my comment. The text would flow better without this explanation.
- The addition of ARCS model only in the conclusions section looks artificial to me. I understand, that it was recommended by the other reviewer, but as part of the theoretical framework for the study it should be presented in the introduction section, not in the conclusions section. I personally would leave ARCS model completely out.
I also noticed one minor language mistake: Line 78: "Qualify students" > "Qualified students"
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your effort and comments.
Reviewer's comments:
- I suggest to remove sentence "The presented descriptive statistics is important to describe the facts of outgoing mobility at MIEM." (line 269) which you have added as a response to my comment. The text would flow better without this explanation.
Response: The sentence has been removed.
- The addition of ARCS model only in the conclusions section looks artificial to me. I understand, that it was recommended by the other reviewer, but as part of the theoretical framework for the study it should be presented in the introduction section, not in the conclusions section. I personally would leave ARCS model completely out.
Response: The ARCS model reference in the conclusions section has been moved to the introduction section. Reference to Keeler’s model became reference number [13] and all other references numbers have been updated.
- I also noticed one minor language mistake: Line 78: "Qualify students" > "Qualified students"
Response: Mistake has been corrected.
The manuscript has been improved following your suggestions.
