Earls, Clive W.
(2018)
Popping the Erasmus Bubble: Perceptions of Intercultural
Awareness and Competence of Incoming Erasmus+
Students and the Preparation Challenge.
Higher Education Research, 3 (3).
pp. 45-54.
ISSN 2578-9341
Abstract
The Year Abroad is an important point of departure in many students’ lives, not only exposing them to new
personal and academic contexts and challenges but also to providing them with the opportunity to grow and develop
linguistically and interculturally. This article presents the findings of an empirical study comprising one-to-one semi-structured
interviews with incoming Erasmus+ students at Maynooth University, and marries this with the dearth of research on outgoing
students in multiple contexts, alongside the anecdotal shared experiences of previous outgoing domestic students at Maynooth
University. The article examines the key issues of social media and social networks within the process of developing
intercultural awareness and competence prior to and during the sojourn abroad, and the lack of sufficient and effective
preparation of students before mobility which emerge as the two dominant issues in the empirical data obtained through
anonymous module evaluations completed by students. The article culminates by discussing the development and piloting of a
preparatory module at Maynooth University to address this preparation challenge. The empirical data generated from students
matriculated in the piloted preparatory module indicates a strong desire for, and positivity towards, a well-developed, fully
accredited, elective module integrated into students’ degree programmes prior to their sojourn abroad.
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