Abstract

College students worldwide share a wide range of cognitive, motivational, and emotional similarities as a need for feeling autonomous, competent, or related to their family and the academic community. However, subjects from different cultural settings could considerably differ in motivation and life satisfaction. For example, Jewish and Arab college students from the State of Israel are likely to display different configurations of cultural orientation, basic psychological needs, and life satisfaction sources. This study is a qualitative study, an interview has been conducted with 20 undergraduates (12 Arabs and 8 Jews) in order to enhance the understanding of the investigated phenomenon. one of the main findings is that the Arab students who represent collectivist culture, were beginning to demonstrate some kind of independence They began to decide for themselves about everything related to their professional lives, private life, and their academic life; although they consult with their parents. Another finding show there is no differences between Jewish students and Arab students regarding the autonomy and relatedness need; in addition, was found that the students from the two groups demonstrated a higher belief in their abilities to direct themselves for the purpose to succeed in achieving high academic achievements. Therefore, in academic studies, it is essential to make the lecturers aware of the importance of satisfying those needs, since they are necessary for the students and definitely for raising their academic motivation.

Keywords: Academic studies in Israel; collectivism; cultural orientation; individualism;

self-determination; students’ life satisfaction