Title: Asia vs. the 'others': how to bridge the intercultural gap in cross-border higher education

Authors: Catharina Wulf, Jennifer Takhar

Addresses: Department of Management and Strategy, ESG Paris Business School, 25, rue St Ambroise, Paris 75011, France. ' Marketing and Advertising, CELSA, Sorbonne University (Paris IV), 77, rue de Villiers, 92200 Neuilly sur Seine, Paris, France.

Abstract: |Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet|, Rudyard Kipling told us in 1892. However, since the millennium, China and India have evolved from developing to emerging economies and the number of Asian students, seeking diplomas in higher education in the Western world is on the increase. Keeping the significant economic contribution of these |migrating| students in mind, attending to the latter group|s distinct needs poses a challenge in a culturally diverse classroom. While a substantial body of research on Quality Assurance (QA) in higher education, especially on external quality assurance and international accreditation institutions and guidelines are readily available, there is a critical lack of evaluating QA from an educational and particularly, intercultural perspective. In this paper, the authors propose specific strategies and recommendations to create a more inclusive environment for Indian and Chinese students in Western business schools.

Keywords: cross-border higher education; India; China; Asia; intercultural teaching; intercultural learning; quality assurance; QA; international students; cultural diversity; Western business schools.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2009.027357

International Journal of Management in Education, 2009 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.375 - 387

Published online: 20 Jul 2009 *

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