Developing active intercultural citizenship through participation in study abroad

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Critical explorations of students' and teachers' experiences of intercultural, citizenship, and democratic education

Proposal

There has been a constant debate about the civic significance of study abroad programmes. The purpose of this paper is (1) to analyse the understanding of active intercultural citizenship by students participating in study abroad programs and (2) to demonstrate the possible ways of enhancing the intercultural development of students through their participation in exchange programs.
In order to discover respondents’ perceptions, values, beliefs and attitudes regarding the issue under discussion, original data were collected from 174 students (Golubeva, Gómez Parra, Espejo Mohedano, 2018). By applying a statistical analysis, the most and the least important criteria for being considered an active citizen have been extracted from the students’ answers. In addition, respondents’ attitudes towards and their understanding of importance of participation in study abroad programs were analysed.
The results of the survey will be discussed in the light of the recent publications of the presenter:
(1) Beaven, A., Golubeva, I. (2018) Intercultural preparation for future mobile students: a pedagogical experience. In: Borghetti, C. & Beaven, A. Study abroad and interculturality: Perspectives and disourses. Routledge, Taylor & Francis, pp. 179-189.
(2) Byram, M., Golubeva, I., Han, H., & Wagner, M. (Eds.) (2017) From Principles to Practice in Education for Intercultural Citizenship, Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
(3) Golubeva, I. (2017) Intercultural Communication for International Mobility. In Deardorff, D. K. & Arasarathnam-Smith, L. A. (Eds.) Intercultural Competence in International Higher Education, New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis, pp. 186-191.
(4) Golubeva, Irina, MªElena Gómez Parra & Roberto Espejo Mohedano (2018) What does ‘active citizenship’mean for Erasmus students?, Intercultural Education, 29:1, 40-58, DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2017.1404741
(5) Golubeva, I., Wagner, M., & Yakimowski, M. E. (2017) Comparing Students’ Perceptions of Global Citizenship in Hungary and the United States. In: Byram, M., Golubeva, I., Han, H., Wagner, M. & Yulita, L. (Eds.) From Principles to Practice in Education for Intercultural Citizenship. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 3-24.
(6) IEREST (2015) Intercultural Education Resources for Erasmus Students and Their Teachers / [authors Aminkeng Atabong, Aminkeng Atabong, Lut Baten, Luisa Bavieri, Ana Beaven, Claudia Borghetti, Neva Čebron, Miguel Gallardo, Sara Ganassin, Irina Golubeva, Prue Holmes, Lucia Livatino, John Osborne, Jan Van Maele, Basil Vassilicos; editors Ana Beaven, Claudia Borghetti]. - El. knjiga. - Koper : Annales University Press.

Author

• Irina V. Golubeva, UMBC