Preparing future business professionals for a globalized workplace through intercultural virtual collaboration

Abstract

Purpose

Universities have increasingly been adopting intercultural virtual collaboration (IVC) to connect and develop the intercultural competence of students from different locations. However, the design and implementation of IVC have proved to be challenging, and thus there is a need for sharing positive experiences. This paper explores students’ overall impressions toward their participation in an IVC project involving a Spanish and Dutch university and discusses the on-going improvement process inherent to such practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This article presents (a) the results obtained from a content analysis of students’ feedback collected through a satisfaction survey, and (b) the observations of participating teachers on the challenges encountered during the implementation of the intercultural virtual collaborative project.

Findings

The analysis shows the potential of IVC to develop different aspects of students’ intercultural competence, especially intercultural teamwork, awareness and skills. Students appreciated the experience of working in intercultural teams, “the real-life application” of the project and the opportunity to gain cultural knowledge. At the institutional level, the biggest challenge related to aligning participating institutions’ courses, schedules, and grading systems. At the classroom level, it is argued that interaction between students should happen gradually. The discussion also approaches how partnerships between universities and companies could contribute to making training in intercultural virtual collaboration more authentic.

Originality/value

Given its impact on the development of students’ intercultural competence, the intercultural virtual collaborative project has been recognized as a best-practice in both universities, being officially incorporated into the curriculum of the participating institutions and replicated to other subject areas.

Citation

Ferreira-Lopes, L. and Van Rompay-Bartels, I. (2020), "Preparing future business professionals for a globalized workplace through intercultural virtual collaboration", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 21-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-08-2019-0194