Uniquely positioned as the gateway of University of St.Gallen in Asia, the Center for Intercultural Competence at SGI strives to cultivate and foster cultural awareness and sensitivity through teaching, research, and exchanges of knowledge and ideas.
The teaching activities of the Center follow a four-stage approach that aims to develop within participants the ability to apply "learned skills" of intercultural competence: At the Stimulation stage, introduction to canonical interpretations of culture across disciplines of social sciences serves as a primer to kindle interests. The Conception stage addresses existing variations of culture grounded in different values and ideologies, national contexts, and economic and political systems. it also explore factors that potentially contribute to cultural divides and nuances. Localized and contextualized approach that enhances country-, society-, and community-specific understandings, notably through field work, is key to the Acquisition stage. In the Application stage, course participants test out their acquired competence in ongoing projects and cross-cultural team communication. The center's teaching efforts all share the same vision of imparting an important skill set that ultimately helps minimize cultural barriers in interactions and create sustainable connections in diverse settings.
Stimulation Conception Acquisition Application
The Center for Intercultural Competence seeks also to deepen and harness academic insights about intercultural dynamics, relationships, and competence through interdisciplinary and comparative research projects. Three ongoing and upcoming strands of research respectively investigate (1) Micro-level household decision-making through cross-cultural and -national comparisons, (2) The formation of intercultural relationships and their long term impact, and (3) Macro-level institutions and regimes that facilitate and regulate transnational mobility. As such, taking advantage of the vibrant environment Singapore has to offer, the Center for Intercultural Competence brings together expertise from scholars across disciplines and practitioners in the field that becomes conducive to the the cross-fertilization of ideas between students, faculty members, and SGI partners.
The person responsible for the Center for Intercultural Competence is Prof. Dr. Chieh Hsu.