The PeerNet-project was initiated by the Center for Intercultural Learning (CIL) which belongs to the European-University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. The CIL promotes intercultural communication and exchange between students with multinational backgrounds. In addition, the CIL deals with essential topics such as intercultural competence and integration. PeerNet gives an important impulse for the development of students’ integration in training student coaches who are motivated to pass their expert knowledge on to other students. All German universities can benefit from PeerNet. The essential training of integration coaches offers the opportunity to develop and strengthen intercultural competences at German universities.
The European University Viadrina, located on the German-Polish border, has a student body with 25% foreign students and thus belongs to those German state universities with the highest percentage of foreign students. Therefore, the European University deals with huge challenges relating to integration, cross-cultural exchange, diversity and intercultural encounters. The Center for Intercultural Learning (CIL) provides expertise in the key area of intercultural competence and has developed different programs for the acquisition of intercultural competence. One important element of the program is a series of intercultural workshops. Students of all departments are invited to participate and to deal with issues like intercultural communication and competence, diversity and tolerance. Many students who have studied at the Viadrina for many years and take part in the workshops experience the multinational diversity of their university for the very first time. They are surprised by its enrichment and intercultural opportunities. Knowledge acquisition and perception are very important and most comments are positive from both national and international students in feedback about their workshop participation. Unique is the fact that the workshops are integrated in ca. 90% of the University’s study programs and can be credited. This ensures a high participation rate. In the last five years CIL has initiated far more than 100 workshop days with a total of ca. 1500 participants. Within InterViadrina (the official name of our program), we have trained 15 German-Polish coaches, offered intercultural education for employees of the university as well as intercultural excursions. The CIL cooperates with different institutions from the European University. The program PeerNet presented here is based on our rich experience which we want to share with other institutions.
CIL promotes communication and exchange between students with multinational backgrounds. It supports encouragement and stimulation for active discussion among students. The overall objective is better integration of international students in Germany and intercultural awareness among all students. In order to reach these aims we initiated PeerNet in which we started a training program for students to become “integration coaches”. This PROFIN-project (kindly supported by DAAD) is in its second year of operation under the organization of CIL. PeerNet is designed as a nationwide comprehensive training for student integration coaches and encourages all participating students i.e. their institutions to build a network.
In 2009, PeerNet was created. CIL offered a comprehensive train-the-trainer-program in which the participants were trained to be student integration coaches. Students from 15 different universities participated with 20 total participants. They met in two training modules led by experienced trainers specialized in intercultural communication in higher education. The participants were selected according to their motivation and project outlines they had to send in with their applications. Besides a reflection on their own intercultural competence, in five workshop days the students learned facts about structural and cultural problems concerning the integration of international students in Germany, how to prepare intercultural encounters, how to get German and international students in touch with another, how to integrate intercultural topics at their universities, etc. A special unit in the train-the-trainer-program was about how to introduce intercultural training at their universities. Actually there are many different models, some universities hire trainers, others train their students or staff. As a considerable number of the participants had extensive knowledge in intercultural communication topics, they received tools for how to develop and realize intercultural trainings. Other students were planning initiatives like multicultural theatre, cooking events or excursions. During the training program they had the opportunity to create project groups and develop common initiatives, give each other peer feedback and arrange visits between their home universities, e.g. for volunteering in projects to collect experience.
Within the frame of PeerNet there have been several subprojects: PeerNet – the two weekend seminars. A project seminar which developed intercultural short films (on the topic of critical incidents). The produced short films you may find at this site: http://erikmalchow.de/filme.html. Additionally we were able to publish our collected knowledge in a book, which represents a methodical textbook dealing with rising intercultural competence at universities including a practical part with innovative exercises. Its distinctive feature is that the published methods are all created within the university context and mostly by students themselves. (Gundula Gwenn Hiller/ Stefanie Vogler-Lipp (Ed.) (2010): Schlüsselqualifikation Interkulturelle Kompetenz an Hochschulen: Grundlagen, Konzepte, Methoden. VS Verlag: Wiesbaden). In 2010, the PROFIN PeerNet-project was extended for one more year. Thus, the concept and the organization were again in CIL's hands. Students from universities all over Germany participated. The participants were invited to extend their methodical enhancement in the field of intercultural communication and learning, as well as learn more about the procedure and of an intercultural training. The main objective of the project is the transfer of their knowledge to their universities in order to intensify networking among German universities.
For its innovative initiatives, the CIL receives much prestige and national as well as international recognition. For example its’ director, Dr. Gundula Gwenn Hiller, received a life-award for intercultural learning from the BMW-Group. PeerNet has run two times very successfully. Each time we had more than 60 applicants for only 20 slots for participation. Thus, the results are apparent. One participant founded a new consulting concept: managing cross cultural teams. Another output is the integration project at the Technical University Chemnitz where training programs for students have been offered. One of our further plans is a PeerNet adaptation for another university.
The CIL deals with a topic which recently has become very relevant in Germany’s and also in Europe’s Higher Education area, i.e. intercultural competence and integration. PeerNet gives an important impulse for the development of students’ integration in training student coaches who are motivated to pass their expert knowledge on to other students. All German universities can benefit from PeerNet. The essential training of integration coaches offers the opportunity to develop and strengthen intercultural competences at German universities. The idea of sharing knowledge and creating networks is the basic innovative idea PeerNet wants to convey.
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