“So why do we assume our teachers pull at the right end of the rope?” This question was raised during a discussion concerning the intercultural competences of our faculty in comparison to the perceived disappointing level of intercultural competences of our graduates. Intercultural competence development is only one part of internationalization at home, yet a part that seems to be more difficult to grasp than language proficiency or international learning outcomes (van der Poel & van der Werf, 2014).
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The international classroom is presumably a far more effective learning environment for the acquisition of intercultural competence when students receive adequate training to make the most of their intercultural encounters. This paper provides a summary of the intercultural training taught to first-year students of an international programme in The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of the paper is to investigate how the students respond to this intercultural training as well as what signs of intercultural awareness they show after completing the course. The findings were obtained via qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, observations and student homework assignments. Overall, students evaluate the training positively. Furthermore, students show some awareness of the necessary ingredients for effective intercultural communication in the international classroom as well as of the challenging nature of this communication due to cultural diversity. Finally, this paper provides recommendations from the facilitators on stimulating intercultural learning in the international classroom.
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In the present dissertation I explored if study abroad – defined as a form of educational mobility for earning credits at the home university and aimed at realizing objectives of internationalization of higher education – contributes to the development of intercultural competence. The research further included measuring if facilitation of cultural learning during study abroad leads to higher levels of intercultural competence after study abroad.In four consecutive empirical studies, and one meta-analysis, the different levels of intercultural competence prior to, and after study abroad were measured among 341 students randomly divided over an intervention- and a control group. The outcome was that students generally score low to average on intercultural competence after a five to six months episode of study abroad, also when facilitated in cultural learning during study abroad. However, the research does include indications that a more intensive intervention during study abroad may lead to significantly higher levels of intercultural competence.This study did not reveal a systematic relationship between personal characteristics and degrees of change of intercultural competence during study abroad. Further, this study did not reveal that students with supervisors who were trained in intercultural competence score higher levels of intercultural competence than students with untrained supervisors.Concerning the instrument used for measuring intercultural competence the conclusion is that for a more sophisticated understanding of one’s intercultural competence development, it is advisable to make use of qualitative data next to quantitative data; test scores alone may not be sufficiently informative.
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