Building bridges: Enabling intercultural competences within double degree programs

In today’s globalised world intercultural competences (IC) are central in increasing understanding and improving relations across cultures. Institutions of Higher Education (HE) face a great challenge in having to prepare students to live and work in the global arena and yet, little knowledge exists about which measures can foster intercultural competences. Literature suggests that studying abroad is not sufficient and that the development of students’ intercultural sensitivity should be better supported and organized. Thus, we have focused our attention on double degree programs, with particular reference to two issues: (1) how do students enrolled in double-degree programs develop IC? (2) How should double degree programs be structured in order to facilitate the development of IC? Building on our previous research, this paper aims to assess the development of students along the intercultural sensitivity continuum of the Bennett’s Developmental Model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS) (Bennett 1986, 1993) at different stages of the educational path of the MAIB programme. MAIB (Master in International Business Development) is a joint double credential Master’s program designed by University of Milano-Bicocca in partnership with Alliance University, India and Centennial College, Canada. The qualitative data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions and group discussions. We have expanded the scope of the previous study, including the experiences of the 2nd MAIB cohort students (academic year 2015-2016) who are currently completing the India-term.