RICH-Ed – Resources for Interculturality in Chinese Higher Education

CAPACITY BUILDING

This project addresses the need for intercultural learning in Chinese higher education (HE) in view of a greater intercultural awareness in interaction with people of different backgrounds. Despite the growing focus on interculturality, a recent nationwide survey revealed that teaching staff still treat culture as a static body of knowledge (Gu, 2016).

Building on the IEREST project (527373-LLP-1-2012-1-IT-ERASMUS-ESMO), RICH-Ed aims to support higher education institutions of Chinese partners in creating a learning environment that enables students and staff to engage globally. To this end, the partnership will define a pedagogical approach for intercultural learning in the Chinese HE; develop, test and adapt teaching materials; and organize training courses for teachers and support staff.

 

The project will produce the following results with respect to intercultural learning in Chinese HE:

  • a description of the current situation and stakeholder analysis;
  • a tested pedagogical approach & methodology;
  • tested and adapted learning materials and teacher support tools for intercultural learning in English courses, and for administrative and management staff;
  • a minimum of 15 trained trainers, 50 teachers, 50 support staff, and 1000 students at the Chinese partner HEIs; and an additional 100 teachers and 1000 students at other HEIs in the Yangtze River Delta and North-East China.

 

The developed approach will be sustained in various courses at the partner HEIs and elsewhere in these target regions. Through a continuing engagement with stakeholders at various levels, the project aims to raise a deeper understanding in the country of a non-essentialist approach to interculturality. By making the developed materials freely available on an e-repository, new end-users will be able to benefit after project completion. The partnership will also investigate opportunities for sustainability in the form of for-a-fee products and services, and reaching additional target groups.