Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience (Intercultural Conflict Management)

Aims & objectives

The Summer Academy aims at developing applied solutions for intercultural challenges in business and society. It brought together scientists, practitioners, and students to work together on the following questions:

• What are the major themes in intercultural communication, what has been done regarding the globalization process, how has communication changed? How are cultures constructed, what are their origins and how do people perceive the world, how can we solve the problems that arise when different cultural values meet?

• What are important learning and teaching styles in different cultures? What is important in intercultural groups when it comes to teaching on intercultural competence and to curriculum design?

More specifically, the Intercultural Conflict Management course introduced basic techniques of identifying the barriers in our self-determination. Ways to understand our personal attitude in a conflict situation and to be aware of our patterns to behave. This approach helps to develop tolerance in face of ambiguity and we showed some principle tools of mediation and how it is organized systematically.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

The target group was undergraduate students with at least one year of academic record (by start of the academy) and young professionals with a background or interest in intercultural experiences aged 18–35. Within our course we had participants from Brazil, China, Germany and the USA.

The team was composed by a university professor, two qualified trainers and 3 assistants for logistics for all the courses of the Summer Academy.

Training methods used & main activities

The course was a balanced and innovative combination of formal and non-formal education with a mixed team of a professor for the lectures and trainers for the practical parts/workshops.
The methods used were experiential learning, role playing, group reflections, tests & games on conflict styles, exercises on mindfulness, field research...

Outcomes of the activity

The training is officially recognised at University level and it is qualified to earn ECTS for those participants who had submitted a specific essay or written assignment after evaluation by the professors.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was co-trainer for the Intercultural Conflict Management course.

I worked on this training for 4 days as a full time trainer.