Research on First Year Students’ Global Competence Development and its Impact on Study Abroad: An Analysis Through the Intercultural Collaborative Learning Course “MCW”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52731/lir.v005.393Keywords:
Global Competence, Study Abroad Programs, Student Dormitory, MCWAbstract
In 2024, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) launched the Support Program for Creating Social Impact through University Internationalization. This involves setting intercultural collaborative learning courses where domestic and international students study together, gaining global competence, and fostering interest in study abroad programs to actively send domestic students. Building on this background, the present study seeks to explore three main questions: (1) Did students in intercultural collaborative learning course develop global competences? (2) What factors positively affect global competence, and (3) Whether gaining global competence promotes study abroad. Within this framework, APU’s (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan) SI project plan1) references previous intercultural collaborative efforts, including a first year experience course called “Multicultural Collaborative Workshop (MCW) 2)”, and residential experience in the international first-year dormitory AP House. The analysis yielded three key findings. First, students generally showed an increase in global competence from the beginning to the end of the MCW course. Second, notable improvements in global competence were observed among students who actively engaged in group work during MCW, and those with residential experience in AP House who frequently interacted with peers from the opposite language standard. Third, students who developed higher levels were more likely to be motivated to participate in study abroad programs.
References
Abe, Y., Mochizuki, Y., & Hashiba,S et al. (2019). Current Developments in Dor-mitory Programs. Hiroshima University Higher Education Research Series (145).
Annual Report of Statistics on Japanese Nationals Overseas. (2024). Retrieved March 3, 2025, from https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/tokei/hojin/index.html
Becker, F. S. (2006). Globalization, Curricula Reform and the Consequences for Engineers Working in an International Company, European Journal of Engineering Education 31 (3), pp. 261-272.
Bennett, M. J. (1986). A Developmental Approach to Training for Intercultural Sensitivity, International Journal of Intercultural Relations 10 (2), pp. 179-196.
Blimling, G. S.(2015).Student Learning in College Residence Halls: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Dawney, G. L et al. (2006). The Globally Competent Engineer, Working Effectively with people who define Problems Differently, Journal of Engineering Education 33, pp. 107-122.
Deardorff, D.K. (2017). “The big picture of intercultural competence assessment,” Intercultural Competence in Higher Education, Deardorff, D.K. & Arasa-ratnam-Smith, L. (Eds). Routledge, pp. 124-133.
Giorgio Di Pietro. (2015). Do Study Abroad Programs Enhance the Employability of Graduates? Education Finance and Policy 10 (2), pp. 223-243.
Grandin, J.M., & Hedderich, N. (2009). “Intercultural Competence for Engineer-ing,” The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence, Deardorff, D.K. (Ed). pp. 362-373.
Lohmann, J.R., Rollins, H.R., & Hoey, J. (2006). Defining, Developing and As-sessing Global Competence in Engineers, European Journal of Engineering Edu-cation 31 (1), pp. 119-131.
Oda, S., Yamazaki, A., & Inoue, M (2018). Changes in Global Competencies Required for Technical Personnel and a Comparison Between Japan and the USA. Journal of Global Human Resource Education 6 (1), pp. 11-22.
Ruben, B. D. (1976). Assessing Communication Competency for Intercultural Adaptation. Group and Organizational Studies 1, pp. 334-354.
Teichler, U. and Jahr, V. (2001). Mobility During the Course of Study and After Graduation, European Journal of Education 36(4), pp. 443–458.
Times Higher Education (2022). The Japan University Rankings. Retrieved March 3, 2025,from https://japanuniversityrankings.jp/
Yamada, R. (2021). Acquisition of Global Competence by Science and Engi-neering Talent – Focused on Graduates from Universities and Graduate Schools in the USA, Journal of Education and Culture 30, pp. 204-228.
Yamada, R. (2022). Acquisition of Global Competence and University Education, Work Experience–A Survey of Graduates from U.S. STEM, Humanities, and Social Sciences. In Yamada, R. (Ed.), STEM Higher Education and Global Competence: A Comparative International Perspective Including Humanities and Social Sciences. Toshindo, pp. 72-94.