Abstract:

Globalisation is a multi-faceted phenomenon penetrating and changing all spheres of human life – social, economic, political, cultural. With a growing number of researchers studying political, social and economic aspects of globalisation, just a few have focused their attention on the humanistic values of the current globalisation processes and the humanistic potential of the global civilisation at large.

The civilisations that used to exist before were of local or regional character, while the global civilisation, which is under formation now, is a civilisation common to all the mankind. According to Kolesnikov (2004), on the one hand globalisation expresses the unity and unanimity of all the people’s biological nature, on the other – the sociocultural integrity of the mankind. The idea of global civilisation rests upon the internal inseparability of man and mankind and their ability to reflect each other. So far, man’s creative nature has been restricted with the narrow frames of national traditions, religious limitations and state borders, with the humanistic potential of global civilisation discovered recently [1].

The current globalisation processes have been boosted by the interregional and intercontinental mobility caused by local and regional conflicts but generated by global economic and political trends. International mobility has become an undeniable reality of every continent and of most nations, with Europe having lost its traditional status of the world cultural and economic centre and North America being unable to sustain it either, with the whole world turning into a boiling pot of largely varying cultures and dissenting religious traditions.

With the phenomenon of global civilisation under formation and globalisation deeply rooting into everyday life processes now and increasingly so in the near future, multicultural attitudes and competencies as part of professional personalities will become more and more valuable and soon vitally important for one’s professional development and career growth in every sphere of life.

From a local necessity, multicultural education has turned into a global need, with academic mobility seen as a smart mechanism capable to contribute largely to the development of multicultural education of both teachers and their students.

Keywords:

globalisation, mobility, globalised civilisation, multiculturalism, multicultural education, academic mobility.