Abstract
Abstractâ?? The importance of cross-cultural understanding is accelerated nowadays by globalization and joint efforts of different countries in the face of global challenges. Countriesâ?? educational systems display attempts to incorporate cross-cultural studies in their curricula across all stages of formal learning. Many higher education institutions offer special courses aimed at promoting cross-cultural studies. One of the tools used to facilitate the process is e-learning. The present article examines the case study of an internet-based collaboration between two higher education institutions â?? State University Higher School of Economics in Russia and Champlain College in the USA â?? in fostering cross-cultural understanding. 
 The project is based on the study of individualistic and collectivistic values within the framework of two corresponding courses studied at both institutions. The topicality of the study is determined by the growing importance of the cooperation of two countries on the international affairs arena, on the one hand, and the fundamental differences of the countriesâ?? underlying value system, on the other. In particular, a post-soviet Russia is generally viewed as a developing democracy representing the collectivistic end of the value spectrum, whereas the USA is considered as an extreme case of individualistic value system. 
 The comparison and contrast of the two systems conducted simultaneously by the representatives of both cultures (students of the two universities) within a specifically built internet forum comprises the base of the project. The case study covers the projectâ??s objectives, its background, the rationale behind its content choice, the design of the e-learning tool, the profile of the participants of the project, its implementation stages and its outcome.
 The major findings of the case study deal with the process of building cross-cultural awareness, reinforcing studentsâ?? analytical skills and providing them with a research incentive, fostering self-reflection, values projection from one culture onto the other, drawing the areas of their intersection, which, finally, result in cross-cultural understanding. The results of the study are assessed at quantative and qualitative levels.
Highlights
The phenomenon of globalization has led to an increasing importance of the global community members collaboration based on cross cultural understanding (CCU)
CCU can be divided into such components as ‘cross cultural knowledge’, ‘cross cultural awareness’, ‘cross cultural sensitivity’, and ‘cross cultural competence’, given that one is built upon another
The concept of Global Modules is based on interdisciplinary approach encouraging the discussion of the topics that fall within the framework of several academic disciplines. It builds upon the idea of studentdriven education meaning that the College curriculum is tailored to the needs of the students to be prepared to study abroad and acquire cross cultural knowledge
Summary
The phenomenon of globalization has led to an increasing importance of the global community members collaboration based on cross cultural understanding (CCU). CCU is generally defined as the basic ability of individuals and communities to recognize, interpret and correctly react to people, incidences or situations that are open to misunderstanding due to cultural differences. [1] Such approach highlights an individual as an active subject capable of putting priory obtained knowledge into practice This implies a multi-layered structure of CCU that includes both active and passive components. The goals include 1) providing an access to information on crosscultural peculiarities; 2) encouraging open-mindedness through discussing the information; 3) creating tools of interpreting and reacting to cross cultural contexts; 4) modeling the situations to implement cross cultural knowledge. Russia and Champlain College in the USA – in fostering cross-cultural understanding
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