Intercultural Competencies

Overview

Compentency: recognizing and exploiting synergies in international teams


Module type: basic module


Semester: summer


Site: Kassel


Language: English; German; Arabic


Workload: 90 hours course attendance; 60 hours self-study


Credits points: 6


Recommended qualifications: none

Courses

Learning Outcome

After the successful participation in the course German-Arab Relations the students are enabled to:

  • understand the institutional set-up of bilateral and multilateral development cooperation with special reference to the Arab world
  • work with political, economic and cultural objectives and instruments of German-Arab relations.

Content

  • Institutional set-up of bilateral and multilateral development cooperation:
    • Role of German parliament, ministries for development, environment and economy
    • Arab embassies and other organisations shaping and cultivating German-Arab relations
  • Socio-political objectives and instruments of German-Arab relations:
    • development cooperation between Germany and the Arab world
    • nature and volume of German-Arab trade and investments
    • historic and present cultural and political relations between Germany and MENA
  • Information on objectives and content of German-Arab M.Sc. programmes

Details

  • Lecturer: Anke Aref, Marc Selig
  • Teaching method: visits to organisations in Berlin, lectures, discussions
  • SWS: 2
  • Credit points: 2
  • Examination: group discussions, (quantity, quality); written report on organisations visited

Learning Outcome

After the successful participation in the course Intercultural Communication the students are enabled to:

  • meta-cognitively reflect communication relevant factors in perception and assessment of situations and critical incidents in every day- and project-related communication
  • monitor the personal adaptation process
  • generate a portfolio of tools for an empathic approach to effectively communicate and work in intercultural teams.

Content

  • Intercultural and communication models like E.T. Hall, Hofstede, Schulz von Thun, and others
    • (auto)biography
    • cross-cultural analysis
    • cultural self-analysis of differences
  • Situated, contextualized and dynamic issues:
    • considering events, phenomena, people etc. as differing and changing along different cultures and different times, culture shock model
  • Learning and working in an intercultural environment:
    • perception, assessment, inference
    • learning diary
    • core topic: creative activities on intercultural communication competence
    • scientific writing (perspective of the self and other, testimonials, critical incidents)
  • Communicating issues of RE in a global world considering local and global knowledge

Details

  • Lecturer: Anke Aref
  • Teaching method: seminar
  • SWS: 2
  • Credit points: 2
  • Examination: meta-cognitive reflection, references of the reading done, intercultural project; written report

Learning Outcome

After the successful participation in the course German and Arab Language Courses Kassel the students are able to:

  • communicate with elaborated formulations and expressions for use in daily life.

Content

  • German:
    • basic phrases and short sentences for everyday use
    • technical terms and expressions in electrical engineering and RE
    • basic concepts in High German grammar
  • Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian dialect (EA):
    • basic reading, writing, and speaking skills
    • solid foundation in formal Arabic grammar (nahu) and morphology (sarf)
    • vocabulary of at least 1000 Arabic daily life words

Details

  • Lecturer: International Language Center, University of Kassel
  • Teaching method: lecture, seminar
  • SWS: 2
  • Credit points: 2
  • Examination: written and oral exam