All of society, including universities, is increasingly affected by a multicultural environment, which is why another international education network meeting was arranged at Jönköping University.
Examples and best practices on how to organise studies in a multicultural environment were presented at the sixth meeting of the network, which took place at Jönköping University from 18-20 October. This time, the focus was on the topic ‘Leading a discussion or debate’.
Seventeen lecturers and scientists from seven universities participated in the visit. Participating universities/schools were: Arcada University of Applied Sciences (Finland); Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences (Estonia); International School of Tallinn (Estonia); Jönköping University (Sweden); RISEBA University of Applied Sciences (Latvia); Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania); and UCL University College (Denmark).
During the three days of the network visit, Jönköping University introduced their everyday activities related to multicultural topics. The participants got to know what it’s like to be a new international student coming to learn in a foreign country and what the university does to help them settle in. Representatives of universities played a role card game to gain a better understanding of the different views. In the lectures and discussions, new knowledge about intercultural competence was gained and topics such as requirements for an international classroom, tricks for a hybrid classroom and how to prepare international students before studies were addressed.
It was found that there is much to learn from the experiences of Jönköping University in regard to multicultural studies; the initiatives used there could be highlighted as examples for other countries.
The goal of the network created by the Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences is cooperation in education and science with Nordic and Baltic universities in order to create new important solutions for multicultural education, share international experience and learn from the best. The project is financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers from the Nordplus Horizontal programme.