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ABSTRACT
One of the main drivers of internationalisation in higher education (HE) is the intention to facilitate the development of intercultural competence (IC) among students and staff. However, previous research shows that higher levels of IC are not automatically achieved by participating in internationalised educational settings. Drawing on the results from a bi- and trilateral collaborative project, we combine cultures of learning and small culture approaches to analyse how participants’ previous educational experience may have influenced the learning process in internationalised HE classrooms. This article argues the necessity of a non-essentialist view of teaching and learning practices in internationalised classrooms. Our analysis demonstrates how academic practices and classroom norms are (re)negotiated in these new contexts, forming new evolving ‘small’ cultures of learning. The role reciprocity plays in working towards cultural synergy in internationalised HE is also addressed. Striving towards equality in power distribution proves to be significant in achieving cultural synergy.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Since the course focused on the concept of intercultural communication, and the course curriculum covered different approaches to the concept of IC, we chose not to define these concepts for the participants in the interviews.
2. The excerpts from the interviews are designated ‘S’ for students, ‘T’ for teachers, ‘RU’ for Russian university, ‘NU’ for Norwegian university and ‘FU’ for Finnish university. RU students, first cohort, are designated ‘SRU1’, NU students, first cohort, are designated ‘SNU1’, RU teachers, second cohort, are designated ‘TRU2’, etc.