Academic mobility and intercultural competence

This article discusses the interaction of the concepts «academic mobility» and «intercultural competence», their nature, types and classification of academic mobility, trends in the development of academic mobility, given the definition of «Academic mobility», and reveals its role in the development of intercultural competence. In conclusion it has been stated that intercultural competence is one of the important tasks of foreign language teaching, which requires moving, at least at some time in the culture of the country of the target language. The differences in languages, national cuisine, clothing, social habits, attitude towards the job are highlighted, and they all together often make these contacts difficult and even impossible. The main causes of failure are indicated in the present article, they are supposed to show the obvious differences in attitude: different attitude to the world and to other people. The main obstacle to the successful solution of this problem is revealed and this help us to show that we perceive other cultures through the prism of our own culture, so our observations and conclusions are quite limited. The effective intercultural competence may not arise itself, it should be focused to study the development of the academic mobility is a necessary task towards the solution of problems of intercultural communication. The terms «academic mobility» and «intercultural competence» are interrelated, and that create conditions for the development of intercultural competence and also to develop in students the ability to choose the way of interaction with the outside world. 

The expanding of the culture and people interaction makes the issue of cultural identity and cultural differences especially urgent. The cultural diversity of contemporary humanity is increasing, and its constituent nations are finding more means to maintain and develop their cultural integrity and appearance.

One of the teaching means of intercultural communication is academic mobility set in the Bologna Agreement. Academic mobility is an inalienable form of the intellectual potential, reflecting the realization of the internal need for this potential in the sphere of social, economic, cultural, political relationships and interrelationships.This is the students' ability to form their own educational program, to select modules, courses, educational institutions in accordance with their preferences and aspirations.Academic mobility is one of the most important aspects of the process of integrating universities and science of individual countries into the international educational space. Academic mobility in the field of international cooperation of higher education are not reduced to concrete actions, technologies and mechanisms, connected only with the system of student exchange of educational institutions of different countries. Experts note that in reality there is a complex and multifaceted process of intellectual advancement, the exchange of scientific and cultural potential, resources, and training technologies.

Academic mobility is an extremely important process for personal and professional development of students, as each participant faces the need to solve life situations and simultaneously analyze them from the position of one's own and «alien» culture. It can automatically and often subconsciously develop certain qualities:

• the ability to choose the ways of interaction with the outside world;
• the ability to think in comparative terms;
• the ability to communicate with foreigners;
• the ability to recognize own lack of knowledge, which determines the motivation for learning;
• the ability to change self-perception;
• the ability to view your country in a cross-cultural context;
• knowledge of other cultures studied from the inside,

Being in another culture and studying at another university a student will not only be the object of influencing certain cultural traditions, norms, values, but also the subject, the «transmitter» of his/her culture in another society. Upon returning home, the student will receive not only new knowledge for himself/herself, but also be able to carry this knowledge to his/her surrounding people [1].

Academic mobility moving students and teachers of higher education institutions for a certain period of time to another educational or scientific institution within or outside their country for the purpose of studying or teaching [2].

Academic mobility is «the transfer of someone related to education to a specific (usually one year) period to another educational institution (at home or abroad) for studying, teaching or researching, after which  a student, a teacher or a researcher returns to his primary school. This concept is not related to emigration or  a long period of study (work) abroad» [3].

Academic mobility is the movement of students or research teachers for a specific academic period (including the period of training or production practice), usually a semester or academic year, to another higher educational institution (domestic or abroad) for training or research, with mandatory re-registration in the established manner of mastered educational programs in the form of loans in their institution [4].

Academic mobility is the international movement of scientists and teachers to carry out scientific and teaching activities, share experiences, present research results, and for other professional purposes ... [5].

There are external (international) and internal (national) academic mobility. The external academic mobility is the training of students in foreign universities, the work of teaching researchers in foreign educational or scientific institutions, as well as the training of students and the work of teachers from abroad. The internal academic mobility is the training of students, the work of teachers-researchers in leading Kazakhstan universities, as well as the training of students from other universities of Kazakhstan. In the Bologna process there are two types of academic mobility: «vertical» and «horizontal». Vertical mobility implies full student training for a degree in a foreign institution of higher education, for a horizontal one training in a foreign university for a limited period (semester, academic year).

Academic mobility can be individual and team work/group. Individual academic mobility is individual trips of students to other universities in order to implement individual educational, academic and research programs. The group academic mobilitycan imply organized trips of groups of students to other universities with the goal of implementing academic and research programs.

Because of the program variety for the implementation of academic mobility and the set of European universities that are rapidly developing the academic mobility, the mobility is classified into an organized  and initiative one.

Organized academic mobility is themobility of the students from national universities to other universities organized by the home university, and initiative academic mobility is the mobility on their own initiative, supported by the administration of the host university. In general, students strive to compete in the university for participation in academic mobility or self-motivated to study in a foreign university for a semester in order to improve their foreign language skills, to broaden own knowledge, maybe to start a scientific  study, and to delve into the culture of the host country.

Thus, academic mobility plays an important role in the development of the international competence of  a student.

The development of academic mobility of students and teachers as one part of the Bologna Process opens new opportunities not only for education itself, but also for the formation of the European labor market and united technological space. Transnational or cross-border education and the growth of international academic mobility make it possible to view higher education not only as a form of public services, but also  as an important segment of international trade.

However, academic mobility cannot be limited only to the opportunity to study or work abroad, and the recognition of national diplomas by other countries, because it is not enoughfor an access to professional activity.

Mobility is important for personal development and employment, it promotes diversity and the potential for working with other cultures. It implies the linguistic pluralism underlying the multilingual traditions of  the European higher education standarts and for increasing cooperation and competition between higher education institutions. Thus, mobility should be a distinctive feature of the European higher education space.

The modern trends in the development of education in the framework of the implementation of the principles of the Bologna Process suggest active development of academic mobility programs and the development of intercultural competence.

Intercultural competence has become extremely relevant in connection with the demand in academic mobility programs, which play an important role in assessing the effectiveness of universities. The academic environment is described as a culturally specific space, for integration into which a certain willingness of the participants is necessary. Successful functioning of the program can be achieved through intercultural competence.

Intercultural competence includes knowledge of all that makes up the culture: the conditions and culture of communication, the rules of etiquette, non-verbal forms of expression (facial expressions, gestures, oculists, etc.), physical conditions of life, nature, climate, lifestyle of foreigners and their system of values, mentality, national character, and relations between people. The intercultural component is based on the comparison of two or more cultures, which is the basis of the intercultural approach implemented in teaching foreign-language communication.

Competence is a range of issues, phenomena in which this person has authority, knowledge, and experience [6].

The ability to develop competence is inherent in all people, but this depends not only on the unique experience of each individual, but on culture in general. Everyone has his own story, his own life, and his own culture (including geographical, ethnic, moral, ethical, religious, political, historical, and its aspects) and cultural identity. As a rule, sociocultural competence implies the ability to:

• to navigate in foreign-language realities, to draw the necessary theoretical knowledge;
• to interpret foreign-language realities as important elements;
• to evaluate and to compare different cultures from the position of universal

In foreign science the notion of «intercultural competence»had arisen in the early 1970s, when it became the formation of intercultural communication as an independent scientific direction. In the course of  this process, at the turn of the 1970s-1980s, the issues of attitude to another culture and its values, overcoming ethnoand cultural-centrism became urgent. In the context of the study of these problems intercultural competence began to be considered as a complex of analytical and strategic abilities, expanding the interpreting spectrum of the individual in the process of interpersonal interaction with representatives of another culture.

Alexander Thomas gives this definition of intercultural competence: «the expression of the ability to understand, to respect, to appreciate and to use productively the conditions and factors of perception, judgment, awareness and action towards ourselves and others under conditions of mutual adaptation, the boundaries of which can range from manifestations of tolerance to incompatible concepts to the development of forms of communication and cooperation based on joint actions, and to the creation of a viable model of orientation in the world, perception and structure of the world» [7].

In Russian communication theory the intercultural competence is defined as «the ability of members of  a certain cultural community to achieve understanding in the process of interaction with representatives of another culture using compensatory strategies to prevent conflicts between «one's own» and «another's» and to create a new intercultural communication community» [8].

Agreeing with this understanding of intercultural competence, Sadokhin A.P. introduces the following clarification: the concept of «intercultural competence» is primarily related to the volume and quality of information about the phenomena and values of another culture that, in combination with reception and methods allowing communicants to achieve their goals, form the basis of intercultural competence, the main features of which are:

• Openness to knowledge of another culture and perception of psychological, social and other intercultural differences;
• Psychological attitude to cooperation with representatives of a different culture;
• The ability to distinguish between the collective and the individual in the communicative behavior of representatives of other cultures;
• Ability to overcome social, ethnic and cultural stereotypes;
• Possession of a set of communicative means and their proper choice depending on the situation of communication;
• Compliance with etiquette in the communication

Thus, intercultural competence is one of the important tasks of teaching a foreign language, which requires the transfer, at least for a while, to the culture of the country of the studied language.

The official date for the beginning of the process, known as the «Bologna process», is usually considered June 19, 1999, when in the city of Bologna at a special conference the Ministers of Education of 29 European countries had adopted the declaration «European Higher Education Area»  or  the  Bologna Declaration [9]. 

The main objective of the Bologna Process was to build the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by 2010. Thecreationofthe EHEA presupposed:

• Introduction of a three-level system of higher professional education (training cycles);
• Introduction into practice of the Annexes to the diploma of higher education similar to the European Diploma Supplement;
• The development of academic mobility of students and teachers;
• Introduction of the strategy of internationalization of higher education through the implementation of professional educational programs offered in different languages;
• Improving the service of students during their adaptation in another university;
• Specialization of the activities of university international services, taking into account the provisions;
• The Bologna Declaration;
• Conducting marketing research in the field of higher

In addition, the establishment of a common European educational space provided:

• the organization of the market of educational services;
• recognition of qualifications of graduates;
• the comparability of the requirements of the European system of quality assurance of educational institutions and educational programs of universities;
• the development of internal University quality assurance systems education;
• involvement of external evaluation of universities, students and

The construction of the EHEA also meant that each of the three cycles of training has the function of preparing the student for the labor market (professional preparedness for the labor market).

Republic of Kazakhstan since March 11, 2010 is the first Central Asian state who became a member of the Bologna process and a full member of the European Higher Education Area.

The accession of Kazakhstan to the Bologna Process gives certain opportunities for Kazakhstani universities and students:

• Bringing domestic educational programs and curricula in line with European standards;
• Recognition of domestic qualifications and academic degrees;
• Ensuring academic mobility of students and teachers;
• Transfer of credits of students of Kazakh universities in foreign universities and vice versa;
• Implementation of joint educational programs;
• Creation of conditions for ensuring the convertibility of Kazakhstan diplomas on higher education in the European region and the right of graduates to work in any

The main goal for the sake of which the movement to the international educational space is carried out  is to ensure the quality of Kazakhstan higher education in accordance with world standards, increase its attractiveness and competitiveness. In the higher education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the basic principles of the Bologna Declaration have been implemented. In all universities, the credit technology of education has been introduced. The Republic's universities are actively implementing joint educational programs with foreign universities.

A complete transition to a three-level model of training specialists was carried out: bachelor master doctor PhD.

In accordance with the State Program for the Development of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011–2020, the boundaries of academic freedom of higher education institutions.

The development of mobility is one of the main tasks of the Bologna Process.

Mobility has become an integral part of the modern world. To travel to other countries of the world for the purpose of training/ learning became known since the Middle Ages. Initially, such trips were one part ofeducation informal forms. When specialized schools and universities began to appear in Europe, educational trips received the form of academic mobility. The current growth of academic mobility is the cause of globalization.

Academic mobility is different from traditional foreign internships. First of all students go abroad to study for long terms from one semester to the whole academic year. Secondly, they learn fully, not only learn the language and get acquainted with individual disciplines, but undergo a full semester or one-year course, which is credited to them upon return to the basic university. The Berlin communiqué (2003) refers  to the «mobility of students, academic and administrative staff as the basis for the creation of a European space for higher education». 

In addition, in the Leuven communiqué (2009), mobility is characterized by a distinctive feature of the European Higher Education Area. «Mobility of students, beginning researchers and employees of higher education increases the quality of programs and scientific research. It strengthens the academic and cultural internationalization of European higher education. Mobility is important for the development of the individual and for job placement, builds respect for diversity and the ability to understand other cultures. It encourages linguistic pluralism, thus laying the foundation for the multilingual tradition of the European Higher Education Area, and enhances cooperation and competition between higher education institutions».

The expediency of considering the formation of competencies at various levels is conditioned by the desire of an university not only to send a student prepared for the basic language and intercultural communication to study, but also to motivate future specialists to master language not only at the level of «I read, write, translate with a dictionary». First of all, he/she is supposed to be at the level of professional communication within the framework of his/her chosen specialist training. The formation of intercultural competence is not just a technical process, but a deep penetration into the culture of another country; this is the establishment of living contacts between peoples, the development of an individual capable of adequately perceiving the multivariate picture of the world. To solve such problems as the preparation of a qualified, competitive, competent, ready-for-permanent professional growth and mobility specialist, in 1999 the Bologna agreement was signed. This integration of educational technologies into the academic mobility program allows universities to train specialists with a high level of intercultural competence, to improve mutual understanding between different peoples and cultures, to educate a new generation prepared for life and to work in the international information community. However, the quality and level of competence is checked only in conditions of an authentic language environment. Accordingly, in order to be confident in the student's language preparation, the practice of applying theoretical knowledge in life is necessary. And such practice of real intercultural contactsis a result of which our own experience and skills of intercultural communication. The desire of future specialists to receive additional education abroad is a powerful stimulus for studying a foreign language at a high level, including on a professional level, this is also an indicator of the students' social readiness for academic mobility.

Thus, we see that the terms»academic mobility» and «intercultural competence» are interrelated, and that programs of academic mobility creates the conditions for the development of intercultural competence in order to develop in students the ability to choose the way of interaction with the outside world. 

References

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