IL1100 Intercultural Competences

This course is designed for Erasmus students in Italy and Italian students on Erasmus/Mobility for one or more semesters who wish to gain specific intercultural skills that they will be able to transfer to the international workplace. The class is composed of three modules of 9-12 hours each. The premise is that because you will be experiencing cultural difference during the semester, you have the opportunity to learn about and practise specific skills that are necessary and useful in order to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment. These skills include understanding the basic concepts of culture and how cultures differ, developing self-cultural awareness, the impact of perception on interaction, practice in suspension of judgment, managing stereotypes and reflecting on behaviour with the goal of developing the skill of  perspective taking and cultivating cultural empathy. In addition we will explore how cultural difference impacts specific business interactions such as negotiating and working in teams. The modules build on each other, so students must participate in all three modules in order to earn the three credit hours.

Learning Goals

• To define culture and explore various metaphors used to represent it.
• To learn and practise the skills of observing, describing and interpreting the behavior of people who are culturally different from ourselves.
• To practise communication techniques that allow us  to overcome the barriers involved in intercultural communication, including:     
  • suspension of judgment
  • managing stereotypes
  • reflecting on and interpreting behavior
  • development of empathy and perspective taking
• To increase self-cultural awareness and awareness of other cultures by learning a framework of cultural difference.
• To study the effect of culture on international negotiation and team work
• To analyze your own intercultural experience using the framework of cultural difference and the other concepts learned during the semester.