Sustainable Internationalisation Through Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning

This chapter explores the potential of collaborative online intercultural learning as a vehicle for sustainable intercultural learning through the reflections of practitioners and participants. As universities strive to produce graduates as global citizens, intercultural skills are seen as key to healthy citizenship. Student mobility is often viewed as the most effective route to this, but many students are unable to participate in long-term mobility, and short-term mobility has a high carbon footprint. The Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to explore the potential of a more inclusive and sustainable approach to internationalisation using experiential learning around global business issues. This paper adopts a reflective methodology, drawing from the evaluative reflections of tutors and students engaged in three short virtual exchanges which took place over a two-year period. The exchange participants were students enrolled on undergraduate business courses at a UK university and a partner college in Malaysia. The findings demonstrate that a short online exchange can open students’ minds to different world views and initiate the processes involved in critical intercultural learning but cannot replace the experiential learning associated with physical mobility. The paper concludes by exploring ways to enhance the experience and extend the opportunity more widely.