Development of cross-cultural competence of engineering students as one of the key factors of academic and labor mobility

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1 Development of cross-cultural competence of engineering students as one of the key factors of academic and labor mobility Inna M. Gorodetskaya, Farida T. Shageeva Department of Engineering Education and Psychology Kazan National Research Technological University Kazan, Russia Vasil Yu. Khramov Department of Management and Automation Kazan National Research Technological University Kazan, Russia Abstract The paper addresses cross-cultural competence of the future engineers in the context of their mobility possibilities. The following issues are discussed: concept, structure and research methodology of cross-cultural and communicative competences; readiness for academic mobility and mobility challenges; experience of the Kazan National Research Technological University (Russia) in cross-cultural competence development and mobility programs. Cross-cultural competence is studied in the interrelation of its motivational, cognitive, personal, and communicative/behavioral components. National Research Universities in Russia intensify efforts to integrate into the global academic environment. The main challenges regarding mobility are second language fluency and crosscultural competence. In this paper we introduce crosscultural training course aimed at the development of crosscultural competence. The empiric study is presented to prove the course efficiency. Keywords academic mobility, cross-cultural competence, communicative competence I. INTRODUCTION Globalization is one of the key peculiarities of today s postindustrial world. Global communication, economical and social contacts foster interest in national cultures and diversity. National boundaries become more transparent. On the sociopsychological level this process is revealed in the huge amount of inter-ethnic contacts. In the knowledge based economy professional education becomes one of the main national values. Professional talent becomes more and more mobile and researchers observe increasing labour and academic mobility [1], [2], [3], [4]. Growing social significance of highly qualified professionals in the modern global innovation context require university graduates to be flexible and adaptive, to have open mind and be ready for innovations. Besides, he or she should be able to integrate into global professional network and to communicate with colleagues all over the world. Development of academic mobility of students and labour mobility of faculty staff as one of the tools of Bologna process creates definite advantages for educational system and for the global labour market. Ch. Tauch in Trends IV emphasizes that mobility of students and academic and administrative staff is the basis for establishing a European Higher Education Area. Governments fully understand its importance for academic and cultural as well as political, social and economic spheres [5]. Philip G. Altbach, Liz Reisberg, Laura E. Rumbley outlining the trends in global higher education define globalization as the reality shaped by an increasingly integrated world economy, new information and communications technology (ICT), the emergence of an international knowledge network, the role of the English language, and other forces beyond the control of academic institutions [1]. Universities implement a wide variety of programs to respond to globalization and promote international mobility of student and faculty; sending students to study abroad, organizing professors exchange, setting up a branch campus overseas, establishing joint academic and research programs. II. READINES FOR ACADEMIC MOBILITY Globalization in engineering is an up-to-date issue and is a topic of international discussions. US, European and Asian researches suggested many innovative ideas that allow for better international engineering interaction and students readiness for the open world [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. Leading Russian universities also take part in the global integration process. The number of international students is increasing from year to year. However Russian universities encounter some difficulties in this area. E.g., in spite of overall growing inflow of international students, Russian participation in the world market of educational services is decreasing. In /15/$ IEEE September 2015, Florence, Italy Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)

2 1990/1991 academic year Soviet universities had 89 thousand international students and ranked third after the USA and France, in 2010/2011 Russia with 118,7 thousand international students was the seventh after the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, France and Canada [3]. The quality of education may be one of the key factors in this process. Only one Russian university (Lomonosov Moscow State University) is included into Top-100 world universities. It is also rather challenging to make individual educational trajectory for Russian students as alterations are possible only on the macro-level of choosing the major and not on the level of specific courses as the curriculum is set by Federal Educational Standards and not really subject to changes. International academic mobility means more than just the possibility to study abroad. The mutual recognition of diplomas and qualification does not guarantee graduates competitive ability in the professional sphere. Only professional competence assures a successful career in the global labor market. Furthermore, the most talented employees are the ones with the greatest opportunity to be mobile. In this context, academic mobility requires a wide variety of personal qualities: talent to interact efficiently with other people; analytical thinking; communicative skills that include cross-cultural communication; the capacity for self-awareness and selfreflection; a willingness to act in the cross-cultural environment; as well as respect and tolerance [11]. III. CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE. CONCEPT AND METHODOLOGY Analysis of academic mobility as a social phenomenon allows concluding that nowadays a university graduate alongside with wide general and specific knowledge has to possess a high level of intellectual culture, sociopsychological competence and ability to apprehend innovations rapidly and efficiently. This is especially relevant to young engineers. In other words, socio-psychological competences are no less important than professional knowledge and skills. The authors point out the following structural components of socio-psychological competence: motivation-values, pragmatism, cognition, personality, and communication [4]. The motivation-values component includes needs, motives, a values system, attitudes, and the general personal orientation of future engineer. Pragmatism equates to coping strategies, ways of solving problems, behavior in professional situations, and operating style, etc. The cognitive component includes professionally specialized and psychological knowledge. Personal traits that form socio-psychological competences of the future engineer are diverse: leadership, emotional-volitional traits, social responsibility, self-discipline, sense of purpose, ambition, perseverance, creativity, the ability for selfdevelopment, etc. The communicative component includes community relief, interpersonal skill, tolerance and respect, good manners, negotiation skills, etc. The context of academic mobility requires specific sociopsychological competence. Namely, this equates to crosscultural competence, meaning the individual s ability to contribute to intercultural effectiveness, regardless of the particular intersection of cultures. Although some aspects of cognition, behavior, or affect may be particularly relevant in a specific country or region, evidence suggests that a core set of competencies enables adaptation to any culture [13]. In fact we are here speaking of the so-called global competence. Global competence as an up-to-date necessity for engineers is widely studied. Alan Parkinson in his paper The Rationale for Developing Global Competence presents a thorough analysis of the concept of global competence and lists 13 attributes of global competence. According to his model global competence means engineering graduates: 1. Can appreciate other cultures; 2. Are able to communicate across cultures; 3. Are familiar with the history, government and economic systems of several target countries; 4. Speak a second language at a conversational level; 5. Speak a second language at a professional (i.e. technical) level; 6. Are proficient working in or directing a team of ethnic and cultural diversity; 7. Can effectively deal with ethical issues arising from cultural or national differences; 8. Understand cultural differences relating to product design, manufacture and use; 9. Have an understanding of the connectedness of the world and the workings of the global economy; 10. Understand implications of cultural differences on how engineering tasks might be approached; 11. Have some exposure to international aspects of topics such as supply chain management, intellectual property, liability and risk, and business practices; 12. Have had a chance to practice engineering in a global context, whether through an international internship, a servicelearning opportunity, a virtual global engineering project or some other form of experience; 13. View themselves as citizens of the world, as well as citizens of a particular country; appreciate challenges facing mankind such as sustainability, environmental protection, poverty, security, and public health [14]. Thus we may see that global competence is a multidimensional complex phenomenon that includes various personal and professional attributes, skills and abilities. It is evident that global engineers need social and psychological skills alongside with high engineering qualification to be able to fulfill their professional and personal potential. Cross-cultural or global competence is the ability to interact and to communicate effectively in a culture different from one s own. Within cross-cultural competence we point out motivational, cognitive, personal, and communicative/behavioral components (Fig.1) /15/$ IEEE September 2015, Florence, Italy Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)

3 Fig.1. Structure of cross-cultural competence Motivational component of cross-cultural competence includes motivation to learn more about cultural diversity, curiosity and interest for multicultural interaction, strive for self-development, etc. Cognitive component means understanding of similarities and differences between countries and ethnic groups, recognition and respect for cultural diversity, knowledge about traditions, mentalities and ways of living. Among personal traits we point out tolerance, crosscultural awareness, strategic thinking, adaptive ability, and readiness for introspection in multi-cultural context, etc. Communicative/behavioral component comprises language proficiency, communicative skills, active networking with people worldwide, flexibility in interactions, ability to recognize and adapt to cultural nuances in professional and social situations, ability for conflict resolution in the multicultural environment. IV. DEVELOPMENT OF CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE AT THE ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY To promote international educational programs in engineering universities, it is necessary to develop the crosscultural competence of students and researchers. Humanities, especially psychology and language courses, play an important role in developing cross-cultural competence. It is known that cross-cultural competence needs to be developed gradually; it is not achieved in one short course or a single workshop setting [9]. There are good reasons to develop socio-psychological (including cross-cultural) competence of future engineers stepby-step throughout the whole educational process at the university. Humanities in the engineering education allow students to evaluate the significance of innovations, to implement them, and to overcome obstacles and difficulties in social contacts. Besides, education in psychology and linguistics reveals the potential for personal growth, and it influences motivation, general outlook, values, and consciousness as a whole. Therefore, humanities contribute to the development of an independent, creative, socially active person, while responding to the leading trends of the global civilization process itself. Humanitarization of higher engineering education is a significant trend observed by researchers [15]. The Russian Federal State Educational Standard for universities allow for the inclusion of humanitarian disciplines into engineering curricula, however it is evident that the typical engineering curriculum pays main attention to engineering and does not focus on the arts and social sciences. This problem may be partially solved by the additional certificates to higher professional education (Russian equivalent of minor degree) where students may develop social, psychological, linguistic competences that will increase their readiness for academic mobility. However additional certificates to higher professional education is an option selected by a small amount of university students, so it is a kind of exclusive opportunity. Within the system of additional professional certificates we suggest an academic course Cross-cultural communicational training for engineers (24 academic hours). The discipline is focused on the formation and development of sociopsychological and cross-cultural competence of students. The course includes: Discussions on cultural diversity and importance of open-mindness Psychological workshop on the art of communication and teamwork Students presentations about history and cultural specifics of different countries (each student chooses a country) Seminar about the interpersonal cross-cultural strategies Discussion on the ethical issues arising from cultural or national differences and ethnical prejudices Case study Discussion on global thinking : in the Alan Parkinson s model this means viewing themselves as citizens of the world, as well as citizens of a particular country; appreciating challenges facing mankind such as sustainability, environmental protection, poverty, security, and public health [14]. Cross-cultural communicational training for engineers is aimed at comprehensive formation and development of crosscultural competence. The course content is designed taking into account the four above-mentioned components of crosscultural competence (Fig.1): motivational, cognitive, personal and behavioral/communicative. V. EMPIRIC STUDY To investigate the efficiency of the introduced course we carried out a research that included several blocks according to the structure of cross-cultural competence. The total amount of 70 students of the Kazan National Research Technological University aged years old took part in the study. 36 of them (15 male and 21 female Bachelor engineering students)

4 did not attend the course, and 34 engineering Bachelor students (14 boys and 20 girls) studied the course. The course Cross-cultural communicational training for engineers was carried out within the system of additional professional certificates for the students that studied the minor programs Professional Psychology and Professional Translation. Kazan National Research Technological University aims at promoting global cooperation; being engaged in a number of joint projects, international programs, student and staff exchange programs. About 1700 international students from 56 countries study at the University. All the surveyed students were Russian citizens who had contacts with international students. Summative assessment (observation, interview and test on cross-cultural motivation) showed that the levels of development of the students cross-cultural competence were approximately the same in the experimental and control groups. At the end of semester that included the course Crosscultural communicational training for engineers the reappraisal of the cross-cultural competence components was carried out in the experimental and control groups. As it has already been mentioned cross-cultural competence has to be developed gradually to be interiorized by a person and to become an integrative personal characteristics. Therefore we think that the main purpose of the course Crosscultural communicational training for engineers was to motivate the students to the further development of their global competence, to stimulate mastering the second language and to be open-minded and tolerant for diversity. Therefore we studied motivational component. To analyze cross-cultural motivation a test was developed that apprised internal and external motives of cross-cultural communication. The motives were graded on a 5-point scale. In the beginning of the study the average rate of motivation was 3,4 points for the control group and 3,5 for the experimental group. By the end of the semester that included the course for the experimental group the control group s motivation was 3,5 points and experimental group showed 4,6 points. The results proved the effectuality of the course (Table 1). Interview also showed that the experimental group was much more interested in cross-cultural contacts and open in communications. The motivation test showed that control group s motivation for cross-cultural communication also slightly increased, although they had not attended the course. This most probably might be because both groups were Professional Psychology and Professional Translation minor degrees students, and these programs themselves contribute to the development of cross-cultural competence [11]. This fact proves the initial idea that global competence is a multi-dimensional characteristic that should be developed by a set of methods (specialized courses, language study, humanitarization and humanization of engineering curricula and general internationalization policy at the university). TABLE I. Beginning of the Semester CROSS-CULTURAL MOTIVATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS Control Group Experimental Group 3,6 3,5 End of the Semester 3,9 4,6 VI. CONCLUSION The introduced course Cross-cultural communicational training for engineers is an efficient tool for formation of cross-cultural competence of the future global engineers. However it is not sufficient to prepare the engineering university graduates for the global market place and mobility program. Cross-cultural competence is a comprehensive personal characteristic and its development at the university requires system approach and gradual development of all its components. Language studies, social psychology, culture studies and other courses contribute greatly to its correct development. Comprehensive approach to cross-cultural competence development makes it possible to consider it as an integration and interrelation of all its components, so that development of one element causes qualitative changes in the others. In other words, increasing of motivation to crosscultural communication influences the intellectual interest and therefore develops the cognitive component, as well as his/her personal characteristics (tolerance, open-mindedness, curiosity, adaptive ability, etc.) Altogether they are shown on the behavioral communicative level and are continuously developed in the further professional activities and personal lives. Social environment is especially important, as it is the key factor in creating the context where cross-cultural competence will be formed, developed and shown. That is why it is extremely important to create the atmosphere of openness and respect towards cultural diversity on the university and national levels. REFERENCES [1] Philip G. Altbach, Liz Reisberg, Laura E. Rumbley. Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution. A Report Prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education [2] Federal State Statistics Service Data. [Electronic reference]. [3] A.L.Arefiev, F.E. Sheregy. International students in the Russian universities. Section one: Russia at the global educational market. Section two: The cohort of international students for the Russian universities // Minisrty of Education and Science of Russian Federation. Moscow, p. [4] Global Flow Of Tertiary-Level Students. Unisco Institute for Statistics. - [Electronic reference].

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