European Education

Why and What for?

This article draws on the experience of a language professor who was head of International Relations at a “Grande École” in France. The approach is holistic. The author emphasizes the need for individual human and cultural preparation for going abroad and the tremendous impact this can have on a student. Answers are proposed to the questions “why?” and “what for?” concerning international mobility. The author amply refers to his specially designed consciousness-raising course on cross-cultural communication (an outline is provided in the annex) in which, among other things, definitions are given for culture, identity, self-awareness and self-definition, otherness and interacting with difference.