BRINGING GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
TO LIFE
Dr Jan Harwell
jharwell@brookes.ac.uk
Department of Business and
Management.
Graduate attributes:
Global Citizenship
(Critical Self-awareness and
Personal literacy and Digital
and Information Literacy)
Oxford School of Hospitality
Management
MSc Course in International
Hospitality and Tourism
Management
CONTEXT
2003 Turismo Sant Ignasi and
Hogeschool Maastricht Developed an
MSc in Innovative Hospitality
Management (IHM)
Collaborative Partnership Developed
Between TSI and Hogeschool,
Maastricht and Oxford Brookes
University
Research Methods and Dissertation
Modules
Erasmus Teaching Exchanges
BENEFITS
2008 Develop Collaborative Learning Project for
Students
Intercultural Coaching and Interactive Skills in a
Cross-Cultural Context
Assessment: portfolio which evidenced
experiential learning over the semester
Learning outcomes: analyse influence of own
cultural background on behaviour, reflect on
ability to use skills in culturally diverse contexts,
evaluate the nature and effect of cultural
stereotyping and cultural differences in
communication styles, develop own cultural
sensitivity, manage self development
Intercultural mgmt
competences
Virtual
communications
Collaboration
Literature
Learning outcomes
Transferable skills
Learning: collaborative, intercultural
virtual, technology mediated
Business collaborations
Virtual teams
Industry specific (employment,
management skills)
Global Citizenship
Employability, CSPL, DIL
WHY IS INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL WORKING
/COLLABORATION BECOMING INCREASINGLY
IMPORTANT?
Social and environmental
responsibility
pressure to reduce carbon emissions
Reduce costs
worldwide economic slowdown /
recession
increasing competition
Technology is improving
facilitating interactions with
colleagues in the same organisation,
colleagues in other organisations and
customers
Geographically dispersed workforces
Enhance problem solving processes
Draw on wide range of expertise
(share)
Improve outputs /offerings
Improve competitiveness
Small organisations can compete
with larger organisations
Flexible working
Develop new ‘learning’ and ‘working’
communities
HOW DOES THE VIRTUAL INTERCULTURAL
COLLABORATION WORK?
December
January
OBU tutor goes to Barcelona to ‘kick start’
collaboration (2 days)
IHM students move to Maastricht
Students put into inter-cultural cross-university teams
OBU students briefed on collaboration
4/5 Week collaboration commences
Communication within teams is virtual until they meet in Oxford in March
March
May
Assessed presentations take place
Also raft of curricular and extra-curricular activities take place.
Duration of visit increased over past 5 years
OBU students submit portfolio (reflection on learning from the
collaboration is part)
IN THEIR VIRTUAL TEAMS STUDENTS ARE
REQUIRED TO:
 1. Prepare a 15 minute presentation on one of the following subjects:
 Communication in multi-cultural teams in the tourism and hospitality industries
 Management of multi-cultural teams in the tourism and hospitality industries
 Conflict resolution in multi-cultural teams in the tourism and hospitality industries
 Motivation in multi-cultural teams in the tourism and hospitality industries
 2. Synthesise a range of appropriate theoretical models and frameworks with their own
practical experiences (from the inter-cultural collaborative teamwork on this module and
relevant industry work experience).
 3. Evaluate the opportunities and challenges tourism and hospitality managers may face
when trying to develop the selected inter-cultural competency/skill.
 Weighting 20% of module marks
Challenges of virtual
intercultural collaboration
Inefficiency, digital
distractions, social
loafing
Poor understanding /
agreement of task,
priorities
Selecting appropriate digital
tools (availability, access,
cost, expertise /comfort
level of users)
Team
identity?
BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL INTERCULTURAL
COLLABORATION
Has:
 enhanced students’ ability to
achieve the learning outcomes
(module)
 enabled them to think about and
evidence their achievement of the
Graduate Attributes
Global Citizenship
Critical Self-awareness and Personal
literacy and Digital and Information
Literacy
in ways that will improve
their employability
Taken skills developed largely in social
arenas and adapted them to and
enhanced them in professional arenas
Facilitated the development of
intercultural inter-university
professional and social networking
Virtual collaboration between Sant Ignasi
/ Maastricht and Oxford Brookes
University (provides them with ‘real time’
experiential learning – they learn
through doing.