{"id":2197,"date":"2012-11-02T11:02:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T09:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2012-11-01T22:30:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-01T20:30:45","slug":"absolutely-intercultural-160-entrepreneurship-critical-thinking-intensive-seminar-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=2197","title":{"rendered":"absolutely intercultural 160 +++ entrepreneurship +++ critical thinking +++ intensive seminar +++ Lithuania +++"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Did you know that if you are a student in a European University you are able t\"\"<\/a>o take part in an intensive seminar with students and lecturers from all over the EU?\u00a0 We\u2019ll be hearing from some students who took part in one such seminar in Lithuania earlier this year.\u00a0 Did you follow Karsten Kneese on Twitter last month?\u00a0 Karsten took over the \u2019I am Germany\u2019 <\/a>Twitter account for a week early in October.\u00a0 One thing I learnt about during that week was the German work canteens which are open to the public.\u00a0 So what do you think of this as a way of representing a country?\u00a0 You can add your comments to our blog here or on our Facebook page<\/a>. Thank you An, Vian, Sammy, Katherine and Roman who are the latest to have liked us there.<\/p>\n

So in May, 35 students and lecturers from all over Europe gathered together in Lithuania to work together for two weeks on an intensive seminar about entrepreneurship called RECEIVE<\/a>.\u00a0 The topics explored included marketing, intercultural differences, digital communication, coaching and critical thinking.\u00a0 Critical thinking not only has an application to entrepreneurs but is also an important skill for students who have been taught in quite a different way across the world.<\/p>\n

absolutely critical<\/strong>
\nI talked first to Serge Koukpaki\u00a0<\/a>from Edinburgh University, which attracts many international students each year, about why he teaches a course on critical thinking and the effect on his foreign students. Then I talked to three of the students Serge brought with him to participate in the RECEIVE project who came from China, Thailand and Tanzania to find out what they thought of bringing a diverse group together to create joint products.\u00a0 Guangqian Li from China spoke about his experience of working in a multinational group.\u00a0 I was certainly surprised to learn that this intensive seminar in Lithuania was Li\u2019s first experience of a truly multicultural educational setting.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t he have that in Edinburgh I wondered? Next I spoke to Duanjam Surbpong or Mo for short from Thailand about the benefits of the Intensive programme; extending your network is certainly a useful entrepreneurial skill. My final interview was with Hassan Iddy, a teacher trainer from Tanzania who found that the communal living aspect of the project reminded him of life in Tanzania much more than in Edinburgh where he is currently studying for his Masters.<\/p>\n

absolutely challenging
\n<\/strong>So far we\u2019ve heard a lot of good things about the Receive project but there were also a few challenges.\u00a0 For example the group visited holocaust memorial museums while in Lithuania which lead to a discussion on genocide and the question about whether China\u2019s one child policy could also be classed as genocide.\u00a0 For Li, whom we heard from earlier, this was a problem as he explains. And that wasn\u2019t the only challenge.\u00a0 In my own workshop where we were constructing the project website, we suddenly noticed after about four days of work that all the personal photos on the website were of males.\u00a0 This was quite a shocking realization which lead us to review all the photos on the website as well as discussing how this could have happened<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact it wasn\u2019t just about photos.\u00a0 You may have noticed that all my interviewees in this pod cast were also male.\u00a0 So lots of food for thought.
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absolutely entrepreneurial<\/strong>\"\"<\/a>
\nIf you are interested in following up the cross-border entrepreneurial theme you can join me in the free online Global Education conference<\/a> on Monday 12 th November<\/a>\u00a0 at 18:00 GMT when I\u2019ll be showing\u00a0 a way of helping interns make more of their foreign posting through online skills training. All details and links will also be on our Facebook page.<\/p>\n

absolutely Amazon<\/strong>
\nAnd finally don\u2019t forget that if you are interested in following up any aspect of intercultural communication we have put together a collection of books, old and new, theory and practical in the Absolutely Intercultural Amazon book store. You don\u2019t pay any extra but we get a small contribution to help continue pay the expenses of this podcast. Now that the northern nights are drawing in, a book may be just what you need here<\/a>! You don\u2019t pay any more to buy them through our store and every purchase contributes a little to the running costs of the podcast so if you\u2019re thinking of buying, consider using our new store<\/a>. There is a permanent link at the top of this blog page.
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