COHEHRE Webinar: Diversity management and optimal use of the cultural capital of the international students within the international classrooms

By Isabelle Delariviere In New

International and intercultural competencies are considered to be of major importance to future graduates in higher education. Yet, the international classroom does not foster these competences automatically; the desired exchange between students with different cultural backgrounds is all too often not taking place. Scholarly research confirms that exposure is not the same as competence (Van de Berg et al., 2012; Brinkmann & Van Weerdenburg, 2014). If the cultural capital present in the international classroom is not being observed, and not actively used, it is also not very likely to produce the desired outcomes. 

In this webinar we will present a Comenius Senior Fellow project for which Hanze received a two year grant. This project aims at developing and facilitating educators who are confidently addressing (culturally) different perspectives relevant in both theory and practice. We are inspired by the concept of commitment in relativism (Perry, 1970; Kurfiss, 1981), i.e. an ability to make educational and didactical choices in a more conscious way, rooted in close review of an international educational context, meanwhile still authentically adhering to a particular point of view, or to a particular school of thought. 

We aim to achieve this by developing the following instruments: 

1. transferable techniques for internationalized program and curriculum design; 
2. providing a learning community where lecturers practise to enact cultural sensitivity (IC-studio)
3. a (digital) IC ToolShed with best practices of intercultural effective didactics;
4. a student survey for measuring the effects of our actions. 

The project will have a direct impact on 36 lecturers and close to 600 students from within three different schools (Business, Health and Life Science).

Presenters
Henk Willemsen, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, MLI, RPT, School of Health Care Studies
Marcel van der Poel, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, PhD, International Business School
Drs. Peter Dammers, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Institute for Life Science & Technology

Date and time
Thursday June 3, 2021 at 16:30-17:30 CET

Registration
Register here

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