A Review on Cross Cultural Education throughout Europe: Identity Issues

Year 2018, Volume: 47 Issue: 1, 109 - 125, 22.04.2018

Meral Şeker

https://doi.org/10.14812/cuefd.389797

Cited By: 2

Abstract

The past
few decades have witnessed an increase in global mobility and an unprecedented
number of exchange programs offered by various institutions and governments to
enable students to receive education in foreign countries. The increase in the
enrolment rates of international and exchange students has led many countries
to reform their educational systems at curricular and practical levels to meet
the needs of international students. European Council (2001), for instance, has
developed a common framework of reference to enable students across Europe to
travel for education with the hope of creating a common European identity.
However, institutional reports and research findings show that in spite of the
increasing opportunities and attempts to improve information and funding
services to accommodate the needs of international students, the effectiveness
of cross cultural education can be questioned. Among these predicaments,
identity issues have been frequently reported (e.g., Andrade, 2006; Ho, 2009;
Kuhn, 2012; Kim, 2014). In this respect, the present study aims to provide a
review of recent studies and reports by focusing specifically on identity
problems encountered by exchange students. The discussions presented and their
implications are meant to contribute to improving the educational contexts for
exchange students.

Keywords

Exchange programs, intercultural education, identity issues

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