Intercultural Education
Melissa S. Ockerman, Elisa M.F. Salvadori, Marta Milani, Agostino Portera
Developing global and intercultural competence proficiency is vital for thriving in our dynamically evolving multicultural societies. Higher education has begun to address this challenge through the widespread adoption of Information and Communications (ICT) and e-learning strategies. One such initiative, the «Global Learning Experience» (GLE) virtual exchange program, offered a significant opportunity to organize collaborative international learning experiences and thus cultivate the development of intercultural competence amongst graduate-level counseling and social work students. In the present qualitative research, using a questionnaire, the authors investigated students’ overall perceptions about the GLE, its benefits, challenges, and, importantly, its influence on students’ development of intercultural competence. The final article section presents implications and recommendations based on our findings.
Keywords
Intercultural competence, Intercultural education, Intercultural counseling, Counselor education, Virtual exchange.
