Intercultural Competence of Moroccan Students in Ukrainian Higher Education Institutions

• In Event: Highlighted session: Building comparative mobility narratives: the intersection of studies of study abroad and international students

Proposal

Internationalization of higher education is a major trend influencing institutions all over the world. It is viewed as a response to global and regional changes by ever-growing number of stakeholders. Ukrainian government makes a specific focus is on the potential of internationalization to ensure quality of education necessary for sustainable future as well as facilitate development. Export of higher education is one of the aspects, commonly associated with internationalization, where Ukrainian universities are moderately successful. The efforts are constantly being made by the government and institutions of higher leaning to ensure that the country will maintain its position on the global market of higher education, such as introducing European standards of education and rigorous testings to assess the outcomes of higher education, increased emphasis on English language competence etc.

The number of international students in Ukraine has been gradually growing for over two decades and reached its peak of 69969 students in 2013. Statistically speaking, based on the data by the Ukrainian State Center for International Education in 2017, the total number of international students in Ukrainian higher education institutions is 66310 students from 147 countries. The most popular fields of study are Medicine and Pharmacy with almost half of all students enrolled in the above-mentioned programs. Despite the fact that tuition fee for international students is two or three times higher than Ukrainian citizens would pay for the same study program, comparatively law cost of study is one of the most significant pull-factors for international students in Ukraine. Other factors include low cost of living, quality of education, undemanding admission procedures, language of instruction. The majority of students come from CIS countries, India and Northern Africa with Moroccan citizens being the second largest group. In 2017 the number of Moroccans enrolled in Ukrainian HEIs was 5786.

Study abroad is traditionally associated with formation of global awareness and development of intercultural competence. As participants of degree mobility, Moroccan students live in Ukraine for extended period of time, which suggests significant increase of intercultural understanding and potential for integration. The universities in Ukraine claim to create comfortable learning environment for the international students and assist with their cultural adaptation and integration. However, not enough evidence-based research is available to support this declaration. Neither is there sufficient data to demonstrate whether international students acquire the necessary intercultural competence while living in Ukraine and if the universities facilitate the formation of global citizenship.

Although there is a growing interest and a large body of literature on internationalization and student mobility, research is missing on student’s perspective in developing intercultural learning, which this paper aims to address. This exploratory study investigates the improvement of intercultural competence as an outcome of internationalization processes and efforts at higher education, through Moroccan university student’s perspective in Ukraine. Taking a quantitative research method approach to gain a deep understanding about student mobility experience in relation with dimensions of intercultural communication competence framework developed by Deardorff (2004), this paper asks the following key research questions: Does Ukrainian internationalization policy of higher education promote intercultural competence? How interculturally competent Moroccan students in Ukraine are and do they develop global citizenship skills? To what extent institutional involvement facilitates the development of intercultural competency? Methodologically, data will be collected through distributing questionnaires over a period of two months to an estimated sample of 50 Moroccan students in Ukraine to capture their insights, thoughts, and perception about their understandings of the role of internationalization processes in their Ukrainian universities; issues of integration and inclusion in a multicultural context and the actions taken in practice.

We base our analysis on Deardroff (2004) model framework on intercultural communication competence which comprises five elements namely attitudes, knowledge, skills, internal outcomes and external outcomes. This model “ enables the development of specific assessment indicators within a context or situation while also providing a basis for general assessment of intercultural competence….It moves from the individual level of attitudes and personal attributes to the interactive cultural level in regard to the outcomes. The specific skills delineated in this model are skills for acquiring and processing knowledge about other cultures as well as one’s own culture” (Deardroff, 2006, p. 255). For the purposes of this paper, we focus on measuring external outcomes of intercultural competence which can be described as “behaving and communicating appropriately and effectively in intercultural situations” Deardroff, 2004, p.196).
In the findings, we explore three major themes: citizenship education, cultural awareness and understanding, and institutional involvement. We argue that, students often experience many obstacles and challenges in adapting to the new learning context, including the language proficiency and academic performance, socio-cultural adaptation and getting used to the new social norms and institutional environment.




References

Deardorff, D. K. (2004). The identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of international education at institutions of higher education in the United States. Unpublished dissertation, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of studies in international education, 10(3), 241-266

International Students in Ukraine. (2017). Retrieved from http://studyinukraine.gov.ua/life-in-ukraine/international-students-in-ukraine/

Shapovalova, O. (2018, February). International Students in Ukraine: Statistics. Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Ukrainian State Center of International Education Retrieved from http://studyinukraine.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Presentation-Shapovalova.pdf (In Ukrainian)

Authors

• Viktoriia Donchenko, George Washington University

• Hajar IDRISSI, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, GWU