MATE – An Innovative, Student-Centered Approach to Intercultural Skills Acquisition for Students and Young Migrants Erasmus Project

Project Title

MATE – An Innovative, Student-Centered Approach to Intercultural Skills Acquisition for Students and Young Migrants

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Migrants’ issues; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

Lately, there are many calls within the EU for reinforcing the intercultural skills and cultural awareness of EU citizens. Such skills are also considered very important in the ERF Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, as one of the 8 skills that every EU citizen should possess (“Cultural Awareness and Expression”). The Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning identify and define the 8 key competences necessary for personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society (Official Journal of the European Union L394).

Moreover, the rise of political parties which oppose migration, along with the rise of neo-populism in many EU countries represents a growing threat to the most fundamental principles on which the EU was established as a supra-national organisation. Additionally, it is common sense lately that Intercultural Skills and Competences are becoming more important as the EU itself becomes more and more diverse and the EU citizens more mobile.

According to the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue: Living Together as Equals in Dignity, intercultural education is one of the key areas in which action is required, in order to enhance intercultural dialogue and safeguard human rights and democracy (2008). Intercultural competence is considered a crucial capability, which needs to be learned, practiced and maintained by every individual.

Even though many projects have responded to this call successfully, more innovative approaches seemed to be required. The approach of the current project is holistic and innovative, in the sense that it focuses not merely on diversity and cultural difference, utilising experiences from previous projects, but also on human commonalities, which have been discovered and experienced by the participants in innovative, experiential activities of project, the MATEvents. At the same time, MATE provided the participants with traditional training on reporting racism and intercultural communication.

The aim of MATE was:
– To develop a holistic, innovative methodology for the acquisition of intercultural competences by students and young migrants or the increase of their existing intercultural skills offline and online; and
– To produce specific outputs supporting the afore-mentioned methodology, such as a tool for the assessment of intercultural skills and curricula, training material and methodological guides on reporting racism and human commonalities.

Also, the following objectives were set:
– To identify and battle forms of hate speech online (on social media) and offline (in face-to-face communication) (including disguised forms);
– To assist young migrants in acquiring/increasing their Social Capital through the development of social networks, relationships and personal connections; and
– To assist both young migrants and locals to launch effective low-budget awareness raising campaigns on social media, battling discrimination and hate speech and promoting respect for diversity.

In total, 2516 individuals participated in MATE, who were:
– Students of a local background that benefited directly from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills;
– Students of a foreign/migrant background and young migrants that benefited directly from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills, and enhanced their Social Capital by establishing social networks and relationships with the local students;
– The staff of the HEIs and VET centres of the consortium that were benefited from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills, and gained valuable experience through their involvement in the different project activities, which they may use in other projects and their work in general.

The main project activities and results are:
1. Desk and Field Research on Common Forms of Hate Speech Online and Offline, which led to the composition of a European Report, including conclusions and recommendations;
2. Development of a needs and impact analysis Intercultural Competence Online Assessment Tool, which was used by 386 students in two phases;
2. Development of a Curriculum, Training Material and a Methodological Guide on Reporting Racism, and implementation of 35 Report Racism Workshops on five topics, with 491 participants;
4. Development of experiential activities on Human Universals and a Methodological Guide for the MATE Facilitators, and implementation of 24 MATEvents faciliated by students, with 404 participants;
5. Development of Training Material and a Guidebook on Effective Campaigning, and implementation of Workshops on the Development of Audio-Visual Material with 99 participants and awareness raising campaigns;
6. Development of a platform presenting the MATE approach and including all project results.

Project Website

https://mate.projectsgallery.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 266293,27 Eur

Project Coordinator

M.M.C MANAGEMENT CENTER LIMITED & Country: CY

Project Partners

• STIFTELSEN KURSVERKSAMHETEN VID U-AUNIVERSITET
• TECHNOLOGIKO PANEPISTIMIO KYPROU
• ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
• EUROCIRCLE ASSOCIATION
• FH JOANNEUM GESELLSCHAFT MBH
• UNIVERSIDAD DE ALICANTE