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A Decade of Internationalisation

Has It Influenced Students' Views of Cross-Cultural Group Work at University?

Northumbria University

This article considers how student views of collaborative study in a diverse international academic context may have changed in the past decade. A retrospective is provided on a research project carried out in 1998 that investigated students' views of working in international groups; this is linked with research carried out by the author in 2008. Despite the fact that examples of ethnic reductionism remain, there appeared to be a more positive social atmosphere in the 2008 data; students perceived cross-cultural interaction as valuable. Where there were conflicts within groups, these stemmed from clashes over disciplinary variation and differences in ideas about how to get things done. This article provides some suggestions for why there was a more positive working atmosphere between students.

Key Words: internationalisation • cross-cultural group work • intercultural interaction

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This version was published on June 1, 2009

Journal of Studies in International Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, 256-270 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1028315308329790


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Montgomery, C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?