Importance of intercultural competence in student mobility

Student mobility includes a variety of factors that have to be taken into consideration, one of the most important being cognitive and emotional preparedness for spending a semester in a different country and, consequently, a different culture. The seminar will focus on what can be done in this respect to make students aware beforehand of what they can expect during their mobility. The first major point will be the discussion of culture shock and its four phases (honeymoon, frustration, adaptation, acceptance) and the second major point will be the illustration of four possible modes of acculturation (assimilation, integration, marginalization, separation). Finally, the seminar will shed light on how students can prepare themselves to alleviate culture shock and make their mobility not just useful in academic terms, but also an enlightening, enjoyable intercultural experience. The focus will be on various ways of raising students’ awareness of cultural differences and working on building their intercultural competence. The seminar will be interactive with short Q&A sessions where participants will be asked to share their good and bad experiences.