How can we raise global citizens at home? Evidence from an intercultural virtual collaboration between the Netherlands and Japan
Abstract: Internationalization, global citizenship, and sustainable development are key themes in modern higher education. Internationalization aims to develop intercultural competence as a component of global citizenship education to enable people from different backgrounds to work together to achieve sustainable development goals. We examine internationalization at home through an undergraduate intercultural virtual collaboration course between a business school at an applied sciences university in the Netherlands and a global business program at an international liberal arts university in Japan. During the course, students work virtually in diverse teams on a business case project while also completing individual and teamwork tasks designed to develop intercultural competence. Students select a multinational firm providing consumer products in both the Netherlands and Japan and compare the firm’s approach and communication regarding reducing plastic waste associated with their products in each country. We employ the Participatory Action Research approach is to analyse the effectiveness of the course and identify potential improvements.
In this chapter, we investigate the students’ personal learning goals and achievements, their perceptions of culture as a challenge to work in a diverse team, and how they learn to navigate these cultural challenges to achieve their shared goals. We find that effective communication is a significant challenge for students in their teamwork. The understanding of the role of silence as non-verbal communication differs substantially between students from cultures with high context (Japan) and low context (the Netherlands) communications styles. Furthermore, differing cultural values regarding team harmony affect students’ willingness to engage in open discussion. Well-structured intercultural learning experiences support students’ ability to overcome these challenges and develop their intercultural competence.
Keywords: Global citizenship, Higher education, Intercultural competence, Internationalisation at home, Sustainable Development Goals, Virtual collaboration