19 May What about integrating Intercultural Competence in higher education? Three things you need to know!

May 2021

Intercultural competence sometimes is used as a buzzword associated with higher education internationalisation, without understanding exactly, what it is universities are trying to achieve. In this conversation with Elspeth Jones, first we talked about the need to delineate intercultural competence in its specific elements and decide which elements are relevant for specific societal contexts or specific professions. Second, I compared working on your intercultural competences with learning to run a marathon. When one aspires to run a marathon, it starts with training for the first mile, and order to keep fit one continually needs to hone and practice a range of associated skills, from the technique of running, to an appropriate diet and life style and the requisite attitudes such as discipline, resilience and self-reflection. Third, we concluded that intercultural competence comes alive in the interaction. It is a co-created and lived experience. Enjoy the conversation – you can find my conversation and other international educators conversations Elspeth had with other leaders in the field here >>>