The purpose of this thesis was to find out possible issues when arranging events for Japanese students and find possible solutions for those issues. This would benefit many people who work with Japanese people and also directly SAMK, students, and teacher working on the project as well as future Japanese students who are going to participate in the Winter School. The objective of this research was to improve understanding of Japanese students and how to plan and implement high-quality events specifically for them.
The research methods that were used to construct this thesis were interviews of personnel from both Finland and Japan, a questionnaire directed for Winter School participants and interviews that were conducted with participants of the year 2017 Winter School. Secondary data on previous Winter School reports were also used. The research focused only on the part of Winter School that is arranged by SAMK. Promotion was not discussed in this paper as it is handled by the partner university in Japan.
The theoretical part was gathered from two main themes: event management and cultural differences. The event process and all the main activities during these activities were explained. The concept of quality for events was defined and the actions behind quality event and event planning were uncovered. Cultural differences between Japanese and Finnish students were observed by using Geert Hosftede’s and Edward T. Hall’s cultural studies.
In the empirical part, the questionnaire was created and sent to participants. Interviews were conducted personally and through email. The results from the interviews and questionnaire were analyzed and compared to the theoretical part.
The findings suggest that Winter School is already a successful event with little need to change the event. The participants have been very satisfied with the Winter School and Winter School has been successful on providing classes and activities that interest Japanese students. Recommendations on how to improve and maintain the good quality were provided at the end of the research
