Comments Off on Symposium ‘Intercultural Competence in Higher Education’
On Sept. 20th, we will host a Research Symposium on the topic of ‘Intercultural Competence in Higher Education’ at Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB). We will present state-of-the-art research on this theme, and provide an opportunity for networking and catching up with colleagues.
Our Keynote speaker will be Prof. dr. Lily Arasaratnam, of Alphacrucis College in Sydney, Australia.
Comments Off on The benefits of internationalization in higher education
This week, all universities in the Netherlands are expressing concern about the upcoming budget cuts for higher education that have been proposed by the new national government, as well as policies to regulate the number of English-language study programs, and reduce the number of incoming international students.
Comments Off on Review of research on global citizenship in higher education – New publication
Global citizenship remains a fuzzy and often contested term, especially when used in the context of higher education. In this new paper, Leonor Gaitán-Aguilar reviews and synthesizes the vast literature on this topic and provides directions on how to research intercultural learning and civic engagement in global academia.
This project is funded by the Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, and supervised by Jeroen Jansz and myself.
Comments Off on Strategic diversity communication on social media – New Publication
My first foray into AI-based data analysis! Joao Goncalves, Pytrik Schafraad, Biyao Wu, and I used supervised machine-learning to study how organizations communicate about diversity on social media.
The validation of our digital tool, called Diversity Perspectives in Social Media (DivPSM) was just published in Public Relations Review. The algorithms are open source (https://github.com/joephofhuis/divpsm), so feel free use them in your own research, or contact me if you need more info.
Comments Off on Are some individuals more susceptible to intercultural education than others? – New Publication
In 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, I developed a new online teaching module intercultural communication. The project was financially supported by the Community for Learning and Innovation (CLI) at Erasmus University. The module was taught by experienced trainers from RISBO
Together with Mijail Fugueroa, I conducted an evaluation study, to test whether the module was effective in raising students’ cultural intelligence, and who benefited the most. The results of our study have just been published (Spoiler: the training works!).
Comments Off on Diversity workshop at the Municipality of Delft
It was very cool to be back in my birthplace to provide a workshop at the Gemeente Delft (Municipality of Delft) on diversity in teams. Thanks, Mark Rothuizen, for the invitation. Also nice to see my former school building in the ‘Delfts Kwartet’: What used to be the Jan Vermeerschool is now the Vermeer Centre.
Comments Off on Is diversity communication by Dutch companies authentic?
Awareness of the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace is growing steadily. Research shows that successful integration of diverse cultural groups not only contributes to a fair and inclusive society, but also has benefits for the productivity of teams and organizations. However, communicating effectively on this topic remains a challenge, full of sensitivities and potential pitfalls. There are different opinions in society about what a successful diversity policy should look like. In addition, there is a lot of skepticism about the authenticity of diversity communication. Organizations are often accused of ‘colorwashing’: positive communication about cultural diversity without a link with actual diversity policy. To what extent is this skepticism justified?
Together with Gabriella Santos en Pytrik Schafraad I wrote an article (in Dutch) for www.innnovatiefinwerk.nl, in which we answer this question. Click HERE to read it.
Comments Off on Interview on colorwashing in HP/De Tijd
This month, the magazine HP/De Tijd focuses on my recent research into ‘colorwashing’ – the tendency of organizations to communicate positively about diversity, with the aim of improving reputation, without correlation with actual or intended diversity activities.
Comments Off on Starting New Position at Amsterdam School of International Business
Starting Sept 1st, I will be working as Associate Professor at the Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB), of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. I’m looking forward to meeting AMSIB’s international students and staff, and working together on teaching and research projects.
Comments Off on Who benefits from the international classroom? – New Publication
Who benefits from the international classroom? A longitudinal examination of multicultural personality development during one year of international higher education Joep Hofhuis, Joran Jongerling, Jeroen Jansz
Abstract:
Purpose
Enhancing students’ intercultural competences through international higher education requires a thorough understanding of the way in which these competences develop over time, how they relate to outcomes, and which factors predict their growth. To answer these questions, a three-wave longitudinal study was conducted among a sample of first-year students in an international university program (n = 425). Intercultural competences were operationalized through the five dimensions of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ): Cultural Empathy, Openmindedness, Flexibility, Social Initiative and Emotional Stability. We examined development of these traits across one year, as well as their relationship with stress, life satisfaction, and academic performance (GPA). Cultural background (local vs. international student) and prior international experience (yes/no) were included as predictors. Results show that MPQ scores at the beginning of the year negatively relate to change across semester 1, which in turn is negatively related to change across semester 2. These findings suggest the presence of ceiling effects in MPQ development. In semester 1, emotional stability acts as a buffer against stress. In semester 2, stress is lower among students with higher scores on cultural empathy, and lower scores on flexibility. Cultural empathy and social initiative relate positively to academic performance. No significant main effects were found for cultural background, or prior international experience. However, these predictors interact on openmindedness and social initiative: local students with no prior international experience show a significant increase in these dimensions across the first semester, whereas the others do not.
Reference:
Hofhuis, J., Jongerling, J. & Jansz, J. (2023). Who benefits from the international classroom? A longitudinal examination of multicultural personality development during one year of international higher education. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01052-6
