TITLE:
The Effectiveness of Electronic Communication in Higher Education Institutions in Consolidating the Concept of Cultural Diversity among Students—Taking IAESTE as a Model
AUTHORS:
Shareefa Rahamatalla Al Marzooqi
KEYWORDS:
Cultural Diversity, Higher Education, Electronic Communication, Training, Exchange Program
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.8,
August
26,
2024
ABSTRACT: The term “Transculturation” was coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1947 to describe the phenomenon of merging and converting cultures. Transculturation involves more than just the transition from one culture to another, it does not only consist of acquiring another culture, but also merges these concepts, facilitating the creation of new cultural phenomena. The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE), established in 1948, is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering cultural exchange between various universities around the world, serving as a platform for exchanging students. IAESTE aims to enhance mutual understanding, international relations, and cooperation among students and academic institutions, regardless of race, color, culture, gender, religious or political beliefs, or disabilities. The University of Sharjah (UoS) is the main office for the program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). From this perspective, the research aims to evaluate and analyze the role of the IAESTE program’s website in promoting understanding, cooperation, and trust between students and higher education institutions. It also seeks to uncover the extent to which the website is committed to achieving the concept of self-respect regardless of gender, race, or religion through positive communication among students from various universities around the world. This positive communication leads to the exchange of cultural dialogue in intellectual, social, religious, and political fields. Different tools were used to collect data including content analysis and in-depth interviews, using a descriptive approach to achieve the study’s objectives. This research sheds light on such topics, benefiting higher education institutions by providing insights on how to evaluate the standards of cultural exchange programs and achieve outcomes or indicators that meet the program’s goals, By focusing on the study issue, which is: How can the website of the International Organization for the Exchange of Training Offers (IAESTE) promote the concept of cultural diversity as a working basis for student exchange programs?