Abstract:

Presently, one of the most critical concerns of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is the development of graduates’ transversal competences, crucial to facilitate their entry in national and international labour markets, promote their mobility and enhance their capability to live in a globalised world [1]. (Deardorff 2015). Several studies have focused on the identification of the transversal competences that may help graduates navigate today’s globalised labour market [2] and have acknowledged the relevance of employers’ perspectives regarding graduates’ competences. Within those studies, intercultural competence (IC) has been viewed as a key graduate quality required by employers [3] , which makes the development of IC a crucial endeavour of higher education [4, 5].
Acknowledging the importance of employers’ perspectives about the relevance of IC and considering the dearth of research on this topic in the Portuguese context, this paper sets out to: understand how Portuguese employers in the region of Aveiro perceive IC; and discuss the role employers attribute to HEI in the development of graduates’ IC. A quantitative study was conducted, where data was collected through a questionnaire to 98 companies of the Aveiro region and submitted to statistical analysis.

Results suggest that although few companies screen for IC in recruitment processes, most believe that intercultural competent employees are valuable for the success of business activities. The combination of intercultural attitudes (respect and openness to others), skills (adaptation to contexts, to communication styles and behaviours) and knowledge (of foreign languages, of other people/other cultures, of global issues and trends) are perceived as critical to build trust relationships with clients and partners, increase competitiveness, boost investment possibilities and partnerships, attract new clients and achieve greater international visibility. Thus, companies consider that HEI should equip students with IC suggesting diverse (co-)curricular strategies such as mobility programs, professional internships in international companies, participation in international projects, integration of foreign language courses in curricula and interaction with international students.

Implications of these findings for the integration of an intercultural perspective in higher education will be discussed.

References:
[1] D. Deardorff, “A 21st Century Imperative: Integrating Intercultural Competence in Tuning,” Tuning Journal for Higher Education, vol. 3, pp. 137-147, 2015.
[2] M. Hodgman, “Employers’ Perspectives on the Performance of Higher Education Institutions in Preparing Graduates for the Workplace: A Review of the Literature.” Business and Economic Research, vol. 8: pp. 92-103, 2018.
[3] British Council, Culture at Work. The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace, 2003. Retrieved from www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/culture-atwork
[4] D. Deardorff and E. Jones, “Intercultural Competence: An Emerging Focus in Post-Secondary Education”. In The Sage Handbook of International Higher Education (D. Deardorff, H. de Wit, J. Heyl and T. Adams, eds.), pp. 283-302. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2012.
[5] N. Dimitrov, D. Dawson, K. Olsen, and K. Meadows, “Developing the Intercultural Competence of Graduate Students.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education, vol. 44, pp. 86-103, 2014.

Keywords:

Intercultural competence, labour market, higher education, employers’ voices.