Recognising multicultural diversity is the aim of any democratic education system. As such, the diverse cultures in a nation should be reflected in the education system of a country. That is why at IUEA, our academic programs entrench multicultural education as our students’ body is largely diverse.
With a diverse multicultural environment comprising of over 40 different nationalities, we want to highlight a few benefits to be gained by students who choose to join us now. For participants in cross cultural training, the 10 main benefits are that it helps:
People Learn About Themselves:
Through IUEA’s multicultural education programs such as cultural galas, students are exposed to facts and information about their own cultures, preconceptions, mentalities and worldviews that they may otherwise not have contemplated. Multicultural activities also help students learn more about themselves by learning about others.
Improve tolerance and lessen prejudice:
At IUEA, we’re more open to different norms and rules of the game and we accept that ‘different’ is not something negative. Through learning about other cultures, barriers are demystified, permitting for more open relationships and dialogue.
Break down Barriers:
All of us have certain barriers such as presumptions, prejudices and stereotypes that obstruct our understanding of other people. Our learning environment clarifies other cultures by presenting them under an objective light. Through learning about other cultures, barriers are slowly chipped away thus allowing for more open relationships and dialogue.
Encourage Confidence:
IUEA’s Multicultural environment promotes self-confidence in individuals and teams through empowering them with a sense of control over previously difficult challenges in the campus.
Build Trust:
When people’s barriers are lowered, mutual understanding ensues, which results in greater trust. Once trust is established unselfish tendencies naturally manifest allowing for greater co-operation and more productive learning space.
Motivate:
One of the outcomes of Multicultural education is that people begin to see their roles within the university more clearly. Through self-analysis, people begin to recognise areas in which they need to improve and become motivated to develop and progress.
Open Horizons:
Our multicultural education environment addresses problems in the job market at a very different angle to traditional methods. Its innovative, alternative and motivating way of analysing and resolving problems helps people to adopt a similarly creative strategy when approaching challenges in their work or personal lives.
Develop Interpersonal Skills:
Through our diverse environment, students develop great ‘people skills’ that can be applied in all walks of life. By learning about the influence of culture, i.e. the hidden factors upon people’s behaviours, those who join our multicultural environment begin to deal with people with a sensitivity and understanding that may have previously been lacking.
Develop Listening Skills:
Listening is an integral element of effective and productive communication. Multicultural and diverse environments help people to understand how to listen, what to listen for and how to interpret what they hear within a much broader framework of understanding. By becoming good listeners, people naturally become good communicators.
People Use Common Ground:
People have a tendency to focus on differences. When cross-cultural communication problems arise the natural inclination is to withdraw to opposing sides and to highlight the negative aspects of the other. Our diverse and multicultural environment assists in developing a sense of mutual understanding between people by highlighting common ground. Once spaces of mutual understanding are established, people begin to use them to overcome culturally challenging situations.
At IUEA, we don’t just equip you with academic knowledge and skills to graduate, we prepare you to overcome life’s challenges in the world outside university!
