Key factors influencing attitude towards multicultural team working

Abstract

Students’ mobility, conjoint programs that are offered by two or more universities or online collaborative learning activities through the Internet are just a few examples of the increasing interest in multicultural education. Nevertheless multicultural education represents both an opportunity but also a challenge within today´s higher education. On the one hand, it has been stated that multicultural education is an essential component of quality education that can help students to gain knowledge and skills needed for successful cross-cultural interaction in a globalized world. On the other hand, cultural distance and different cultural background of students that must team work together can lead to cultural misunderstanding, frustration, and finally the failure in achieving the expected learning outcomes. To better understand the key factors that can influence attitude towards multicultural team working can help to design more successful activities increasing students’ performance and satisfaction with multicultural team working.