Learning to work interculturally and virtually: Developing postgraduate hospitality management students across international HE institutions

Abstract

Given the challenges of developing inter-culturally competent, digitally literate, team players amidst a realm of other postgraduate competencies this paper outlines the initiative developed by academic teams from three European institutions. The paper outlines the virtual intercultural collaboration and its development and then reports on the results of a survey conducted with participating students from two years of the initiative. Students' perceptions of the generic value of specific skills sets in virtual team working and intercultural competence are identified as well as their views of the specific project's capacity to develop their own skills in the relevant areas, are explored. The results suggest that since social media, team work and intercultural interactions seem to be ever present dimensions of the contemporary world of work it appears to be important that students encounter meaningful virtual and intercultural learning opportunities during their postgraduate management studies. Finally this paper highlights the value of inter-programme teaching and learning collaborative activities between European higher education institutions.