Establishing Students’ Cooperation in a Multicultural Environment. The HEIComp Experience

Abstract

This paper investigates the endevour to bring students together to cooperate in a multicultural environment, in a higher education context. The cooperation is developed by means of working life connected (WLC) courses included in an international project funded by the European Union. The aim of the paper is to analyze the challenges and benefits for students stemming from this approach. A survey was pursued among the students involved in the project using an online questionnaire. The results of the research indicate common characteristics as well as important differences between Paraguayan and Brazilian students cooperating in an multicultural framework. Challenges pertain to behavior, stereotypes, language, values, work style, and time. Findings reveal that roughly 50% of participating students had a hard time cooperating with their peers from a different culture, in terms of working, communicating, and taking decisions together. The main benefits of cooperating in a multicultural environment involve better mutual understanding, more inclusivity, and a higher empathy. Additionally, it fosters intercultural competence, cultural intelligence, and communication skills, encourages innovation through diverse perspectives, strengthens collaboration in both academic and professional settings, and enhances engagement and problem-solving in multidisciplinary teams.