Welche interkulturelle Kompetenz macht beschäftigungsfähig?

Abstract

Dominic Busch skizziert in seinem Artikel die Debatte um den Beitrag interkultureller Studiengänge zur employability ihrer Absolventen aus diskurstheoretischer Perspektive.

Employers from the fields of private economy sometimes accuse universities for not providing their students with capabilities making them employable after finishing their studies. Especially subjects in the humanities very often are accused to neglect the mediation of practical and applicable knowledge and abilities. Intercultural Communication on the one hand is fre-quently considered as being an important key competence, but on the other hand many employers think that having covered this as a subject of university studies may not count as having acquired academic expertise in a specialised field. This article will present different perspectives and different understandings of the term employability from different societal groups. It will then propose to consider employability as a result of social discourse and as discursive construction representing different societal interests. On this behalf, employability as a discursive term shares considerable parallels with the terms of intercultural competence and intercultural communication. A deeper understanding of the role these terms play in social discourse may also contribute to a more constructive and synergetic debate about employability. Study programs from the field of intercultural communication may provide a basis for students to acquire the necessary skills. Holding a degree from a subject of the field of intercultural communication, graduates will not only be experts IN a key qualification, but they will also be experts FOR this key qualification, i.e. they will be able to analyse, explain, communicate, mediate and teach about the role intercultural communication and culture may play in respective situations. The article will close with a short presentation of the Masters programme in Intercultural Communication Studies taught at European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).