Today%60s globalized society is characterized by a high level of interconnectedness und interrelatedness. The private as well as the working sphere require its community members to master new chances and challenges posed by multicultural settings. Thus, intercultural competence has become a key qualification on national and international job markets.This course raises your own cultural awareness, prepares you with important background knowledge regarding individual, academic, societal and professional aspects of interculturality and equips you with the necessary skills to master intercultural encounters successfully and communicate effectively. Some key questions of this summer school are:Individual Interculturality: How are cultural identities shaped and how do they influence our daily encounters with others? How can cultures be be analyzed or even compared?Societal Interculturality: How do nations, supra-national organizations, such as the European Union, and societies at large manage interculturality? How are minorities protected? Which dangers and potential conflicts can be identified? Which political and legal frameworks ensure diversity?Professional Interculturality: How do international companies and organizations organize and manage interculturality? Which guidelines do they follow? How do theory and practice diverge? What are the biggest chances and challenges of interculturality?In class, we will analyze and evaluate theoretical frameworks as well as lead lively discussions. The course will focus on how to acquire intercultural competence and on how to benefit from cultural diversity by critically reflecting on your own cultural backgrounds as well.Students will benefit from the unique site and setting of this course that provides the necessary infrastructure to get a real %E2%80%9Chands-on-experience%E2%80%9D next to a solid theoretical introduction provided by the lectures. Located in the heart of Europe, cosmopolitan Vienna not only has a long history of diversity but also hosts numerous international organizations, like one of the four headquarters of the United Nations at the Vienna International Centre, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which makes the city an ideal location for productive intercultural encounters in the fieldwork stage of the course.Moreover, a productive learning climate ensured by an interdisciplinary group of open-minded international students enables lively discussions, collaborative learning, intellectual stimulation on a high level as well as individual support in the design stage of the fieldwork projects. Lectures, Guest Lectures (for example Dr. David Schriffl from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, an historian in the field of International History), workshops, reading assignments and excursions (to the United Nations Center and others) ensure a wide range of input that will prepare students well for designing their own fieldwork projects. Lectures are also complemented by informal get-togethers while exploring the Viennese (inter-)cultural sphere.The fieldwork project will enable you to pursue your own interests within the course%E2%80%99s thematic framework and establish interesting new intercultural contacts outside the classroom. In individually guided sessions, students will be asked to develop their own research questions and research designs related to interculturality. Possible examples might be:1. What are the most important chances and challenges when it comes to multicultural teams in the business world?2. Which guidelines do companies/organizations establish in order to guarantee a productive intercultural working climate?3. How is the public perception of interculturality in Vienna? How can these perceptions be measured? Where do cultures differ? etc.etc.Depending on the chosen questions, students are encouraged to develop mini-questionnaires, conduct qualitative interviews with their chosen target audience (Viennese citizens, international students, business professionals%E2%80%A6) and summarize as well as interpret their collected material in a final presentation.At the end of the course, students are ably to define, analyze and interpret important theoretical concepts regarding interculturality, theyhave raised their own cultural awareness, are able to evaluate and reflect on their own cultural competence as well as they have acquired basic intercultural skills that allow them to communicate successfully in international settings. Also, the students have gained important experiences in creating their own fieldwork projects and conducting their surveys. Thus, the course aims at deepening intercultural understanding of the students on both a personal and a professional level in order to prepare them for the international job market and add to their professional portfolios.
Mag. Alexandra Poelzlbauer, MA ,University of Illinois
Target groupstudents from different backgrounds - interdisciplinary course!
Course aimThis course raises your own cultural awareness, prepares you with important background knowledge regarding individual, academic, societal and professional aspects of interculturality and equips you with the necessary skills to master intercultural encounters successfully and communicate effectively.
Credits info6 ECTS Participants will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the summer school and all necessary documentation to validate the course at their home university.
Fee infoEUR 600: Reduced participation fee for students.Early registration bonus of 150 until the 31st of December.Later registration bonus of 100 until the 31st of January.Group discount of 150 (at least 4 participants).
INNESAddress: Favoritenstr. 4-6
Postal code: 1040
City: Vienna
Country: Austria
Website: http://www.innesvienna.net
E-mail: summersession@innesviena.net
Phone: 436802349265
