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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“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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In this study it was hypothesized that collaborative learning in international higher education contributes to the development of intercultural competence. Two hundred and fifty-two students of an international business and management study programme of a Dutch university participated in two surveys on collaboration in a group learning activity and one survey on their development of intercultural competence. Additionally, three groups of four to six students took part in focus group interviews. The results indicated that when students perceive that the group process improves, the quality of the collaboration in terms of verbal interaction and equal contribution will also improve. Furthermore, the results revealed that a higher perceived quality of the collaboration relates to an increasing development of intercultural competence. The findings are discussed and related to implications for the use of group learning activities in international higher education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315319826226
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To understand under what conditions intercultural group work (IGW) leads to more intercultural interactions, a survey was conducted among local students (n = 80) and international students (n = 153) in Dutch universities. In this study, students were more inclined to engage in intercultural interactions when they perceived that working with culturally diverse others prepared them to work and live in a diverse setting. The positive association was strengthened when students perceived that diversity, in terms of nationality within their work group, was also beneficial for accomplishing their group task. The findings demonstrate the significance of students’ perceptions of IGW, including the perceived general value for personal development and intellectual benefits related to specific tasks. This implies that institutions and teachers could be made responsible for engaging with innovative educational methods to address and incorporate student diversity into curriculum.
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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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The experiences with intercultural competence training at the Hanze International Business School Groningen may serve as a blueprint for augmenting professional intercultural behaviour at the SME work floor. The set-up of the training is based on current intercultural communication theory and models, and has as its basic assumption that a change in worldview will make a change in behaviour more likely and feasible. Test results and interviews reveal that the worldviews of 34 participants have changed between the start and the end of the training.
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This paper concerns an on-going study aiming at finding evidence for the assumption that a study abroad episode with active intervention in the students engagement and reflection as part of intercultural learning will result in higher intercultural competence development scores than a study abroad without such intervention. The findings show that almost half of the students score substantially different on intercultural competence after their stay abroad than before. However, this applies to both intervention and non-intervention groups. Moreover, the changes are both positive and negative. Positive developmental scores relate to high scores on four specific competences: intercultural sensitivity, intercultural communication, building relationships, and managing uncertainty. Developmental scores also relate to the factors curiosity, care for cultural difference, time lived abroad, age and gender. Factor analysis of all 13 study variables supports the idea that an intrinsic desire for cross-cultural interaction and an ability to communicate sensitively moderate intercultural learning. Further study is required to test these factors as moderating factors, and how this relates to effective intervention.
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In this study we measured the effect of COIL on intercultural competence development using a quasi-experimental design. Our sample consisted of 108 undergraduate students from two universities, one located in the Netherlands (NL) and one in the United States (US). Students’ self-reported intercultural competence was measured using a pre-post survey which included the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) and Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Qualitative data were collected to complement our quantitative findings and to give a deeper insight into the student experience. The data showed a significantly bigger increase in intercultural competence for the US experimental group compared to the US control group, supporting our hypothesis that COIL develops intercultural competence. This difference was not observed for the NL students, possibly due to the NL control group being exposed to other international input during the course.
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This dissertation increases our insight into the role of the service employee’s intercultural competences in the service to culturally diverse customers. Investigating the effect of the intercultural competences of service employees is of major importance because, as a consequence of globalization, the number of intercultural service encounters has increased dramatically and still does. The delivery of service to a culturally diverse customer-base requires a combination of knowledge, skills and attitude; the intercultural competences (also known as Global Mindset). In this study the hotel sector has been investigated specifically. The hotel sector is an important economic player that continues to grow inspite of economic downturn. The special characteristics of hotel services make the sector also very suitable for the research of face-to-face encounters in an international context. In this dissertation, a holistic approach has been chosen, meaning that in the four empirical studies not only the perspective of the manager, but also that of the employee and the customer was investigated. All three of the above-mentioned are actors in intercultural service according to the argumentation of the ‘service-profit chain’ (Heskett, Jones, et al., 1994). Together, the manager, employee and the customer form the so-called ‘service triangle’ (Bitner, 1990).
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Research poster: Preparing graduates for an international & intercultural workplace.
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