Businesses know that productivity depends on a work force that is socially and emotionally competent. If you want to become successful in a diverse world, a large part of that success will depend on your ability to communicate and negotiate among diverse cultures.

Intercultural competence is considered one of the top 10 work skills needed for the workforce of the future.It entails recognizing cultural differences, understanding how these differences influence interaction and maximizing that knowledge in order to minimize misunderstanding.

This summer school is a structured training based on a developmental approach to building intercultural competence, regardless of your current level of cultural understanding. The offered program will be taught by a senior practitioner in the field with more than 10 years’ experience in intercultural training development and delivery and will cover everything from cultural stereotypes to cognitive and communication styles.

What is it in for you?

• Gain a deeper insight into your own culture
• Learn more about different behavioral and communication patterns
• Share critical intercultural incidents and best practices
• Develop your own intercultural competence by doing exercises, games and simulations
• Learn how to deploy intercultural competence development in your academic and/or professional field(s)

Requirements

This summer school is intended for BA, MA and PhD students. Prior knowledge of the field of intercultural communication is preferred, yet, not necessary. You have been selected on the basis of your interest in Intercultural Competence as expressed in a brief motivational letter and can subscribe for this course.

It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English .

Learning outcomes

After this course you will be able to:

• Better understand the differences between cultural stereotypes and cultural generalizations.
• Recognize and deploy different styles of communication.
• Gain a theoretical understanding of intercultural competence development.
• Gain a deeper insight into your own culture.

Practical Information

The Summer School for students will take place from 26 June - 30 July 2023:

• Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri from 9:30-12:30 (CEST)

Please note that on Wednesday there will be no class, but you will have a team assignment that you need to complete together that day.

Upon successful completion of the program, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Participation that mentions the workload of 15 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of participation.

Enrollment will open in February 2023. If you would like to be notified about this, please sign up for the waiting list through this link