Preparing the next generation for successful intercultural leadership

Six SeAMK students participated the Second Intensive Programme hosted by Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences in April.

Over fifty students and lecturers from seven different partner universities across Europe were engaged in learning and collaborating in an intercultural setting as part of the EU Strategic Partnership Project PROMINENCE “Promoting Mindful Encounters through competence and experience”.

In a global and increasingly diverse world interculturally competent managers and leaders are the asset for companies that seek to successfully operate on international scale/across cultures. The seven universities participating in the project from across Europe have joined forces to collaborate on the development of interactive online learning material to enhance intercultural competence and experience with the ambition to contribute to a further enhancement of the internationalization agenda in their participating universities.

This year, the student teams worked on case studies as consultants seeking to solve challenges relating to leadership and management in an intercultural context. Students were also involved in testing content that had been developed on leadership theories and the role of non-verbal communication by University of Economics of Varna, Bulgaria and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland.

Over a period of three years university partners from Aschaffenburg (Germany), University of Economics of Bratislava (Slovakia), Debrecen (Hungary), Katowice (Poland), Savoie (France), Seinäjoki (Finland) and University of Economics of Varna (Bulgaria) will be collaborating and organise so called Intensive Programmes (IPs).  For each of these IPs, students per participating university receive an EU grant to co-finance their study period abroad. Next year, the third intensive programme will be held in Annecy, France.

Kaija-Liisa Kivimäki
SeAMK School of Business and Culture