Engaging with cross‐cultural communication barriers in globalized higher education: the case of research‐degree students

Abstract

Problematic aspects of intercultural communication are considered in the context of: an increasingly internationalized market for higher education; the globalization of knowledge; the compatibility of distinct national higher education cultures; and the capacity for successful cross‐cultural cooperation. This is exemplified by reference to a doctoral programme delivered by a UK‐based university, largely through distance learning, to students resident in a non‐anglophone country. Here, the challenges have concerned: cultural and linguistic barriers; the use of distance‐based supervision; and taken‐for‐granted knowledge related to learning and academic levels. Anecdotal evidence suggests diverse student experiences during the supervision process, in both face‐to‐face and distance learning contexts, reflecting the extent of familiarity with idiomatic and technical English, and the importance of non‐verbal communication. Given unequal power relations between students and university teachers, improved intercultural communicative competence may be achieved through a mutual construction of a discursive arena reflecting the dynamics of an increasingly globalized structure of academic intercourse. This may involve a critique of assumptions associated with ‘national’ academic cultures together with a pragmatic quest for a common lexicon. This in turn may contribute to the process of cross‐national collaboration and cooperation in higher education.