Improving Intercultural and Inclusive Competence of Higher Education Institutions. A Training Manual

Abstract

The project STATUS (Steering Transition and Advancement of Tertiary Underrepresented Students) builds upon these recommendations from the Council of Europe, emphasizing the importance of higher education institutions in meeting diverse societal expectations and fulfilling multiple objectives beyond knowledge dissemination. This Training Manual has been collaboratively developed by STATUS partners. It offers a series of theoretical insights and practical activities regarding intercultural, gender and communication issues so that HEIs staff (both teaching and non-teaching) may improve their competence in developing strategies and initiatives to increase the enrollment rates and academic performance of underrepresented and vulnerable students. It includes three modules. The first module was developed by the Preschool Teacher Training and Medical College in Vršac, Serbia and is divided into two parts: the first part – Interculturality. (In)visible borders and potentials – was written by Ivana Đorđev, Tanja Nedimović, Adrijan Božin, Radmila Palinkašević, Biljana Vujasin, and Snežana Prtljaga; the second part – Heuristics and interculturality. A meeting point – was written by Danica Veselinov, Nataša Sturza Milić, Ljiljana Kelemen Milojević, and Nevena Čolakov. The second module – Gender stereotypes in the media, online culture and language – was written by Gianna Cappello and Paola Macaluso (University of Palermo) and Giulia Tarantino and Shu De Francesco (CESIE, Palermo). The third module – The fringes and the margins of interculturality. Socially-deprived areas students on the move – was written by Teodora Popescu and Maria-Crina Herţeg (“December 1, 1918” University, Romania) and Alcina Maria Pereira de Sousa and Gonçalo Nuno Ramos Ferreira de Gouveia (University of Madeira, Portugal).