Pilot project “Entry into Professional Life: Intercultural Communication” succes
What’s taking place here is an intercultural dinner where business people and representatives from public authorities connect with international students. Matthias Mehler, board chairman of the "Unternehmer Hildesheim" association is hosting it. But this event also serves as the culinary conclusion of the "Entry into Professional Life: Intercultural Communication" pilot project. Above all, however, this event is meant as an evening of reflection, where students and entrepreneurs alike get a chance to exchange views and share ideas. Participants are able to talk about and reflect upon their experiences while enjoying a potluck buffet consisting of specialties from their home countries.
It all began with an idea for a workshop that Fronterotta put to DAAD in connection with the INTEGRA Program. Green light was given for a 30-hour course featuring two main highlights: The workshop "Entry into Professional Life: Intercultural Communication," which was conducted by intercultural trainer Tina Patel for students and entrepreneurs, and a work shadowing day. Here students got an opportunity to spend a day with participating entrepreneurs in their companies or administrative bodies. The workshop had already left a lasting impression on everyone involved, but during their work shadowing placement students were able to further deepen their experiences. And through the students, participating entrepreneurs got an opportunity to expose themselves to new perspectives.
"I'm absolutely delighted, everything is running beautifully," is how Cristina Fronterotta summed up the evening and the project itself: "The result has really intoxicated us," she says with obvious satisfaction. The objective was to build bridges. "We have international students here that are soon to be highly qualified graduates, so we wanted to see what we could still do for them". In terms of their professional development, they weren’t lacking for anything. But it was conceivable that certain intercultural difficulties could arise in the course of their everyday working life. This is what inspired the project idea, which Fronterotta and her colleague Beate Breitenstein approached in an open and unbiased way.
The results were very well received as participants of the intercultural evening unanimously confirm: "It was in fact interesting for both sides," according to Matthias Mehler, chairman of the Hildesheim employers' association and host for the evening. The entrepreneur, who runs several companies in Hildesheim, suggests that: "We were pleased to get feedback from individuals with whom we don’t usually interact." He and an HR department staff member also enjoyed the workshop a lot.
"As an entrepreneur in the small and mid-sized company sector, it’s particularly important to stay on top of things," says Mehler. Indeed, in these fast-moving times business must keep pushing themselves to develop and evolve new networks. "This close proximity to our universities is really important – also for us as entrepreneurs," Mehler continues.
Seyedeh Simin Shariati, who is majoring in Social Work at the HAWK, spent a day at the Oskar Kemmer School. She was able to get to know the whole school and had an opportunity to sit in on a school related social work activity. This visit will pay dividends in her future career: "My horizon has broadened," she notes. And she also learned that schools employ social pedagogues, which is something she had not been aware of before. Diana Prieler, who works as a social education worker at the school and guided Seyedeh for the day, also benefitted from the visit: "Working with students with a migrant background gave me a new intercultural perspective and appreciation of diversity," she says.
Fenja Nönken, Head of Marketing and Communication at the Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft zu Hildesheim AG (gbg), suggested that feedback from students at the end of their work shadowing day was very interesting: "All the students were very committed to making the most of this opportunity". She and her colleagues had also been impressed by the students’ good language skills: "I take my hat off to young people who venture off to a foreign country, quickly come to grips with their culture shock and then even manage to complete a course of study".
Nemat Ahmadi, who trained as a commercial assistant and foreign language correspondent at Braunschweig – and had learned German at the HAWK Language Centre – was among the international students to visit the gbg. He thoroughly enjoyed his work shadowing stint: "It’s important to learn how to work as a team. I definitely recommend this kind of event for all students," he remarked.
Stefan Kröner, an architect from Hildesheim, Germany, also believes strongly in this project. He invited three Chinese architecture students enrolled at the HAWK to spend a day in his company. He devised a schedule of events that included a special tour through Hildesheim, past interesting construction sites and historically-significant buildings: "This kind of experience is important not only for entrepreneurs but for everyone with contact to different cultures".
At the end of the first intercultural dinner hosted at the HAWK, Fronterotta remarked that: "The feedback received – also from the entrepreneurs – reinforces my view that we have closed a market niche here". And Fronterotta is convinced that this project will be reissued: "We will certainly change a few small details but basically the concept worked nicely".
