Higher education systems across the world have developed their international dimensions in response to globalization. In Finland, higher education institutes commit to providing their students with global, international, and intercultural opportunities. These opportunities can be achieved via such abroad programs as ERASMUS. However, the number of students remaining in home universities during their whole study time is high. This raises the question on how these non-mobile students can develop their international and intercultural competencies without leaving their home campuses. This thesis’s topic focuses on the solution to the above challenge, i.e. internationalization-at-home (IaH).

The case organization of this work is Lahti University of Applied Sciences (Lahti UAS). The intent of this research is to collect students’ opinions about international extra-curricular activities and internationalized curriculum at Lahti UAS, and propose suggestions on future improvements at Lahti UAS’s IaH based on students’ perspectives. The approach of the thesis is deductive, and the research methods utilized are both qualitative and quantitative. Specifically, students’ opinions about international extra-curricular activities are gathered via surveys, and insightful students’ points of view on the internationalized curriculum are gained via interviews. The results from the two research support the answers to the problem questions of the thesis.

In conclusion, the findings reveal students’ perceptions on how IaH benefits them, and confirms the importance of IaH at Lahti UAS. The empirical results and recommendations for IaH proposed in the thesis are beneficial to Lahti UAS’s future development. It is also essential to carry out further research on this topic such as benchmarking best practices of IaH, and studying staff members and international students’ perspectives of IaH.