Developing Global Competences via University Internationalization Activities—A Comparative Analysis of Business Students’ Opinions before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

For the last two years the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the main activities in higher education institutions (HEIs), including teaching activities and internationalization activities, activities that are directly involved in the development of student graduates’ competences. The present study analyzes the perceptions of students on the results of a university’s internationalization activities, in terms of competences they develop at two different moments in time: before the pandemic and during the pandemic. The research started in 2019, before the pandemic, having as objective to identify how various types of competences are associated with HEIs’ internationalization activities. Once the pandemic started and given the changes in the activities of HEIs, it was of interest to see what the perceptions of students were of the contribution of different HEIs’ internationalization activities to the development of their competences in the new conditions. Therefore, the present research has the purpose of investigating if the perceptions of students on the types of competences the university develops through its internationalization activities before the pandemic are different from their perceptions on the development of the same competences during the COVID-19 pandemic in the conditions of modified international activities. This can help universities to decide on possible changes needed in their activities (given the fast-changing environment) in order to support the development of competences for their students. Two quantitative studies were organized in Romania. The first was conducted in 2019 with 148 students in the terminal year of bachelor studies at a particular business faculty in Bucharest. In order to see if there were shifts in the opinions of students about how the university contributes to the development of their competences in the new COVID-19 context and the new forms in which higher education took place, the research was replicated at the beginning of 2022 with 179 students in the terminal year at the same business faculty. The results show both different and common opinions of the two analyzed groups of students (before and during the pandemic) regarding the role of the business university’s activities in providing specific, generic and global competencies that are demanded in the national and international labor markets. The paper contributes theoretically by extending the HE literature on the developments of skills and competences for students and graduates and also by extending the literature on changes determined in HE by the COVID-19 crisis. The research also has practical implications for universities willing to offer sustainable education by better adapting their strategies for the development of various competences for their students in the continuously changing environment and uncertain situations determined by the COVID-19 crisis, for example, the need for universities to offer special course content, new courses and events focused on the most recent international events in all spheres of activity.