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ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME, KEY ACTION 2
CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural

Engagement to Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support
Internationalisation at Home (FRIENDS)
Unit 1: Introduction to the IACD MOOC

Part 1
Mrs. Christina Armutlieva, Mrs. Ayşe Deniz Ozkan,
Mr. Túry György, Mr. Grzegorz Klapyta, Dr. Nedka Dimitrova
Christina: Hello, FRIENDS! My name is Christina Armutlieva and I represent Varna University
of Management. We are the coordinating institution of the FRIENDS Project that is supported
through the Erasmus+ Programme for Capacity Building in Higher Education. FRIENDS
stands for Furthering International Relations and Intercultural Awareness to Nurture
Campus diversity and to Support Internationalisation at Home. As the title suggests, we are
focusing on the concept of internationalisation at home, which you are going to learn a lot
over the next 17 units of this Massive Online Open Course. I'm glad to introduce to you our
partners from the programme countries represented in this consortium. FRIENDS combines
the efforts of universities in Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines and
today I've got the honor and the pleasure of sitting next to our colleagues from Turkey,
Poland, Hungary, as well as Bulgaria. We are sitting right now in the lovely premises of
Istanbul Aydin University and I am pleased to introduce to you Ayşe from Istanbul Aydin
University to present her university and herself.
Ayşe: Hello! My name is Ayşe Deniz Ozkan. I'm the Vice Director for Global Education and
Partnerships. I am also the coordinator for the FRIENDS Project. Let me just introduce to you
Istanbul Aydin University in just a few sentences. As Christina said, we are now at the studios,
the filming studios, of Istanbul Aydin University, Faculty of Communications. We are a
comprehensive university located in Istanbul, which is itself a higher education hub. We have
39.000 students and 4.500 of them are full-time international students. We are part of the
European Higher Education Area. We take part actively in the Erasmus+ Programme and we
are also cooperating with universities all around the world. So we welcome exchange
students as well through the Erasmus+ Programme and our other cooperation programmes.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 1
So all in all, I would say we have 5.000 international students on our campus. So
internationalisation is very much a priority for our university and we are very happy to be
part of the FRIENDS project because we value campus diversity and inclusion for local and
international students. We also want to develop the global competencies of our students,
both local and international, because we believe that to thrive academically as well as in their
future careers, all our students need global competencies and intercultural communication
skills. So very much happy to be part of the project and to be part of this MOOC.
Christina: Thank you so much, Ayşe! You actually touched upon one of our key objectives in
this project. That is to build global skills and improve the employability of students of our
partner universities in the five Asian countries. I have got here, sitting next to me, another
colleague of ours, György, from Hungary. György would you do us pleasure and introduce
your university and yourself.
György: Yes, happily. Hi, everyone, from me, too. My name is György Túry and I represent
Budapest Metropolitan University, which is located in the capital city of Hungary, Budapest.
This is the largest private university in the country. Currently, we have around 7.000
students out of which it is close to 20 percent that are international studies. That's my
research field. And I'll see you very soon in the MOOC programme as well. students, which is
a very high number, not only in the country but in the Central European region as well. So it
is a very international, very diverse setting for obviously the international students, but as
well for the domestic students. In terms of academic fields of study that we cover, we do arts,
business, communication, and tourism, both at the BA and the MBA level. We offer close to
50 programmes. As to my personal academic background, I do culture.
Christina: Thank you very much! And now I would like to gladly give the floor to Greg from
Poland.
Grzegorz: Hello, Friends. My name is Grzegorz Klapyta. I am head of the International
Relations Office at the Silesian University of Technology. Our university is a public research
university, located in Poland in the Silesia region, which is one of the most industrialized
regions in Poland. We are educating nearly 2.0000 students and we have almost 3.000 staff
members and we are very active in international cooperation. It is very important for us in
our strategy and we take an active part in many international projects and also programmes,
especially Erasmus+. I am personally coordinating the FRIENDS Project in our university,
which makes me very happy and excited.
Christina: We are happy to have you too on board. Thank you. Last but not least, it is my
pleasure to introduce my colleague Nedka. We both work at Varna University of
Management.
Nedka: Thank you, Christina! My name is Nedka Dimitrova. I am a teacher of Intercultural
Awareness and Business Communications. I feel really excited about taking part in this great
FRIENDS Project, and I hope we are going to have a really productive work together. As to
my school, Varna University of Management, it is a small private school in Varna at the Black
Sea coast in Bulgaria. But we welcome students from 50 countries, all from all of the
continents around the world. And they enroll in different programmes - International
Business Management, Hospitality, Business Management, Cultural Studies, Software
Studies. Also, we have a great school of Culinary Arts. And something that I really want to
mention is that we have been awarded, ranked, number one among one thousand five
hundred other universities in terms of international orientation and students mobility, not
only in Europe but as I said in the world by EU multi-rank., which is an important ranking of
the university. Thank you!
Christina: Thank you! I was wondering if we would like to share with our learners, MOOC
learners something about the reason we are actually here today and the reason we came
here to Istanbul. We are currently working on designing and developing the Massive Online
Open Course. Our MOOC is designed and developed and delivered through the project and it
is dedicated to Intercultural Awareness and Cultural Diversity. All of us, our universities, are
playing a significant role in the design and the delivery of the MOOC. The MOOC itself is part
of a component of a very interesting and innovative tool that is called Intercultural Passport,
which we are developing in the project. As all of us are traveling around the world, as you
know, we need a passport to cross political borders. And we came up with the idea of
establishing an Intercultural Passport, a sort of certificate or a label that would enable us to
cross-cultural borders. Cultural borders - we have those not only crossing political borders
but also within our close environment, community, proximity. And the reason and one of the
main objectives of our MOOC, again, that is a part of the Intercultural Passport is to help
students improve their intercultural competencies. VUM, actually, Varna University of
Management is the project coordinator and it is mostly the initiator of this project in the first
place. And the reason we came up with this idea of FRIENDS and building bridges between
Europe and Asia through internationalisation at home was our experience in the field of
teaching Intercultural Awareness and the Cross-cultural Diversity and also focusing on
research in the field of Cross-cultural studies. Nedka, because you are one of the teachers at
VUM, would you share a little bit more with our audience about the topics that VUM would
be covering in the MOOC?
Nedka: Sure. Thank you! So the main task of this project, this great project as I have already
said, is to encourage youth students, because I am right now addressing all those students
who will enjoy FRIENDS, in the course of the next month. So our main task is to encourage
your ability and understanding and motivation to learn more about other cultures and your
own, of course, culture. Just because to understand other cultures, you need first to
understand your one. So my colleague, Prof. Minkov at Varna University of Management and
I will be very happy to share our knowledge about how to communicate with people from
other cultures, how to overcome cultural barriers. What strategies to use in the process of
intercultural communication and how to make new friends more successfully. So we will
teach you what culture is, how different aspects of culture like cultural norms, cultural
values, cultural beliefs affect this intercultural process of communication in this hugely
various cultural environment. You will also learn how to measure cultural aspects and you
will learn that they are actually measurable. You will learn the specific techniques of
overcoming cultural barriers in a multicultural environment. So enjoy the course and see you
soon.
Christina: Thank you. And Istanbul Aydin University will be also delivering significant,
important part of our MOOC. Ayşe, would you share the light on the content you will be
covering?
Ayşe: Sure. Istanbul Aydin University will cover a module that we call Culture across Time
and Space, because yes, it does very and we will talk about ethnic, linguistic and cultural
diversity. We have a young academic here. She is working currently in the Social Work
department. She is a sociologist by training. She will cover three units with you within this
module. One is Understanding Ethnic and Cultural Diversity. The second is Linguistic
Barriers as Hidden Dimensions of Culture. The third one, this is very important and timely, I
think, Understanding Gender and Gender Roles in Different Cultural Contexts. So you will
meet our Prof. Cemre Erciyes very soon in the upcoming units of the module.
Christina: Brilliant, thank you. We are already looking forward. And György from Budapest
Metropolitan University?
György: I am also so happy to share the details. I mean, we have the details and the syllabus
of our component. And the topic that we have chosen is European Identity and European
Values. As a starting sentence, I would say that we - my colleagues and myself, are
tremendously excited about the whole thing because we will be learning so much about these
issues as well. We can only hope that you will also learn a lot from these units. So we have
been responsible for four units and we want to teach you or tell you more about European
Identities and European Values in the 21st century. What do they mean today? How have
they come into being? So, we would like to provide you with the historical, political or
cultural context. I don't think it is unimportant to remind ourselves that Europe has never
been this diverse in its history, in its long history. So I think it's a very timely issue to look at
those values and identity questions once again at the closing of the second decade of the 21st
century. In another unit, we also want to talk about the European Union as a political entity.
We can talk about Europe as a geographical location, as a political entity, as a cultural
phenomenon. But in this particular unit, we want to share with you some information, some
history concerning the EU, the European Union. In the last unit, we cover very similar issues
that are European identity and European values, as they are manifested and represented in
culture and artistic products. Most examples will be taken from the 20th century and 21st
century and the digital arts, textual arts, popular culture, and many other fields. So I can only
hope that you'll enjoy the whole thing as much as we have done. And I see you very soon.
Christina: Thank you! Great, it sounds really very, very exciting and interesting. And last but
not least, we would be going to Poland and meeting colleagues and professors from Greg’s
University. Greg, what would be your university's contribution to the MOOC?
Grzegorz: So first of all, I have to say that we are the Technical University and we are focused
mainly on engineering and technology. It is worth saying that we have also strong units
related to social sciences, management, organization, and education. And my colleagues from
these units will prepare for you four units in the MOOC course, and namely, they will address
you the intercultural communication skills modules. And these modules will deliver the
necessary knowledge to teach you the role of the cultural factors in the intercultural
communication in the cross-national and cross-cultural communication. We will also give
you the basics of business protocol and etiquette. We will also give you some practical hints
on the strategies for overcoming the problems, the barriers and to work efficiently in the
international and cross-cultural environment.
Christina: Very nice! So, this means that this MOOC we have created together is very much
practice-oriented and is aimed to give and acquire our students with skills, competencies,
knowledge that would help them communicate better in a more efficient way in a
multicultural, diverse environment. On the other hand, in the very beginning, as mentioned
by my colleague Nedka, we would be having also some theoretical introduction to the topic
on the theme and the area of cross-cultural studies. So all in all, we are trying to combine
practical with theoretical and we are striving to be useful and to provide you with valuable
experiences, and hopefully give you the opportunity to make new friends, thanks to this
MOOC and this project. Thank you so much! Stay tuned!
Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural

Engagement to Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support
Internationalisation at Home (FRIENDS)
Unit 1: Introduction to the IACD MOOC

Part 2
Mrs. Christina Armutlieva
Hello to you all!

I am back to provide you with some more details about the Intercultural Passport term. In
fact, it covers 2 things, namely the virtual module you have registered for and are currently
following, as well as the outcome of the virtual module that is the certificate you would get
upon its successful completion. Pop culture tells us that it is about the journey and not the
destination. But in this particular case of the Intercultural Passport, both are equally
important both the journey the learning journey you embarked on as well as the
Intercultural Passport certificate you would get at the end. So, I highly encourage you to keep
up with us and to complete all the requirements of the Intercultural Passport.
It consists of two main components, namely the MOOC on Intercultural Awareness and
Cultural Diversity you are currently following as well as the Digital story you will be required
to craft and submit to your International Relations Office at your home University. Your
digital story could capture an international or intercultural experience of yours that has
made you reflect on the importance of intercultural communication and the benefits of
cultural diversity. It could be you going abroad for the first time, or coming back to your
country after a long period of stay or simply from a trip abroad, or maybe you studying with
international students or different people from different countries or simply you may be
going home every day by passing through a neighborhood where a different ethnic
community lives. Any experience, encounter, picture, person, impression, thought that have
you made learn a lesson on the importance of intercultural engagement is relevant.
When it comes to the digital story, you would create, you are most welcome to explore the
Digital Storytelling Manual available on the FRIENDS project to gain a better understanding
of the mechanics of digital storytelling and to prepare thus better for your own story. I
encourage you to be creative when it comes to your digital story content and it`s visual
effects. We are very much enthusiastically looking forward to seeing your digital story and
sharing it with peers of yours across the 12 FRIENDS Asian Universities on the project
website. Sharing means caring and I do believe that by sharing your stories you will help
others to overcome any difficult issue you may have or challenges you may have had in the
past.
Upon successful completion of the MOOC and the submission of your relevant digital story,
you will receive the Intercultural Passport Certificate that technically equals 4 ECTS which
stands for 4 European credits. In addition, those four European Credits will be automatically
recognized at your home university as part of your formal curriculum studies. However, I do
believe that there are even bigger intangible benefits of completing the Intercultural
Passport. I am convinced that in 6-week time, you will have gained a much better
understanding of the academic field of cross-cultural studies and you would have improved
significantly your intercultural competence. In fact, I am confident that completing the
Intercultural Passport Learning Journey will enrich and make you more tolerant and
understanding more compassionate towards people coming from other cultural
backgrounds and will ultimately make you also a better person, which let`s face it, is at the
end of the day the chief goal of education and of life itself.
Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support Internationalisation at Home
(FRIENDS)
Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

Approaches in defining culture Storytelling
Part 1
Dr. Nedka Dimitrova
TRANSCRIPT
Hello from the Varna University of Management based in a Bulgarian town in South-East
Europe, from where our culture trip will begin in an attempt to find out what is culture and
why it is important to develop cultural awareness and intercultural communicative
competence.
Our world has been changing rapidly in the past couple of decades due to technological
advancement and innovations leading to an intensified process of integration and
interaction between national economies, businesses, people and cultures.
Learning about other cultures and our own culture too has become extremely important to
understand how different values, norms, and beliefs affect human communication and can
cause communication failure and misunderstanding.
Developing intercultural communicative competence will help you to communicate more

efficiently with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and different native languages.
Enhancing our intercultural communicative competence (ICC) as “the ability to interact with
people from another country and culture in a foreign language” will require several key skills
and qualities to understand culturally different styles of behavior, appreciation, and
acceptance of those differences, adequate responsiveness, and desire to change and adapt,
briefly summarised as Empathy, Respect, Tolerance, Sensitivity, and Flexibility.
To understand how culture influences our own style of communication, we should first have
a quick look into the concept of identity as an expression of the way in which we see
ourselves and the way in which others perceive us.
At the individual level, we all possess a fixed system of beliefs about ourselves, which is based
on the recollection of knowledge learned through previous experiences in a particular
cultural environment.
This knowledge of own qualities and attributes consists of pieces of information, organised
in a structure called schema which guides our behavior and style of communication.
A student from the US studying business management in Bulgaria may perceive himself as
independent and self-confident, technically knowledgeable and decisive. In contrast, his
female Bulgarian classmate, can see herself as disciplined, sensitive, shy and lacking enough
confidence to take part in the course discussions and the process of decision making. Their
self-expression and motivation for academic performance will be controlled to some extent
by the individual mental schema already built through previous experiences.
Studying and working with other people suggests constant interaction with the members of
a particular social group in which one asserts his/her identity composed of “Me”, “Myself”
and “I”.
Communicating with others shapes the individual ME associated with our reactions in
accordance with the social expectations and the adopted rules of behavior. The “I” represents
the desire to declare one’s ego, which often may contradict the established “Me” and if the I
fails to comply with the social regulations, then the Me will come to remind us about the
required norms of behavior.

(FRIENDS)

Part 2
Dr. Nedka Dimitrova
TRANSCRIPT
In the process of communication, "I" and "Me" would merge into "Myself" as an important
construct of our self-concept, thus the representation of one’s identity should involve his/her
individual, interpersonal and group Self.
The complex nature of people’s identities in intercultural communication can cause serious
confusion and misunderstanding due to cultural differences in the perception of self.
Getting back to the example given above, our business management student from the United
States may see himself as a more individualistic person with a focus on own personality traits
and achievements, while the Bulgarian student might have a more collectivistic view of
herself, attaching greater importance to her family and friends whose support is relied upon
for personal accomplishments.
We tend to identify ourselves with various cultural groups – our country of origin, ethnic
group, race, gender and sex, religion and beliefs, educational qualification and professional
field, family and social role, physical and behavioral characteristics, age, languages spoken.
The following activity is suggested to help you get a deeper understanding of your own
perception of self and the aspects of your multicultural identity. You may choose to share
and compare the information with your family members, friends, teachers or co-workers. At
the end of this course, after having gained sufficient knowledge about cultural differences,
you can reflect on the factors which may have affected your cultural identity and perception
of self, as well as on what makes you different or similar to the members of a particular
cultural group and how these differences and similarities may affect your interaction in
multicultural education and business environment.
Back to our activity, “Multicultural Self”, you have to fill out 5 words related to your
multicultural identity. You can choose words related to your general role, your social role, to
physical or mental abilities, to your ethnic belonging, political views or whatever you find
relative. Just put five words in each circle and lastly, please write your name in the center of
this figure here.
[Discussion]
Nedka: Let’s discuss what you found! Did you find any similarities with the students around
you?
Student 1: When I was comparing my results, I found that a lot of people wrote that they are
Russian and whoever that I have compared with, I found that there are lots of males and
females in their five circles. I also encountered that a lot of people wrote about their age.
Student 2: According to my observation, as I kept and moving around with my paper, I have
found that we have several people who listed out their traits, and in my group we have 3
people that are open-minded. I found that very interesting. And then, positive were two of
us – me and Sara. And then, when I went out of the group, I put the one on other side.

(FRIENDS)

Part 3
Prof. Michael Minkov
TRANSCRIPT
Hello! My name is Michael Minkov. I'm a professor of cultural anthropology and cross-
cultural awareness at the Varna University of Management and today I will give a couple of
short presentations on culture and cultural differences across the world. I will start with the
significance of the topic: Why we need to study culture? And then I will continue with some
definitions of culture, how culture is understood by different scientists, how it is studied. I
will explain the major models of national culture, which explain cultural differences across
the world and the consequences or implications of those differences.
I always start teaching about the culture by provoking my students with a picture of some
cultural peculiarity that they may not be familiar with. This, for example, is a picture of the
ambassador of Papua New Guinea to the United Nations taken recently. As far as I know, as
you see most people who are not familiar with the culture of Papua New Guinea would be
surprised even shocked by the way that he is dressed. And by the way, he realizes I'm quite
sure that he knows that he looks strange in this way among everybody else at this session of
the United Nations. But interestingly he is doing it on purpose because he wants to reassure
his cultural identity. And the message that he is sending is “I know that you may be shocked,
but I am also shocked by some features in your cultures”.
Consequently, we need to understand our cultural differences and respect them. This picture
is also interesting because it explains how the study of culture began a long time ago - more
than a hundred years maybe one hundred and twenty-a hundred and fifty years. At that time,
European and American scientists began to explore cultures outside of Europe and the
United States. They traveled to Africa to Papua New Guinea to Southeast Asia, tropical Latin
America the Amazon. And they discovered cultural differences that they could not explain.
For example, they would see somebody like this person. They would be shocked. And they
would wonder why this person is dressed like this. Is there some meaning? There must be
some meaning. And in this attire and culture at that time was perceived as a combination of
different symbols and meanings. It was seen as something like a language. When you visit a
foreign culture, that you don't understand usually, there is also a different language spoken
by the local people. You try to learn and understand the language and in the same way you
try to learn and understand the culture. So just like language which has different meanings,
culture was perceived as something consisting of different meanings. For instance, if you
wink at somebody-this may have one meaning in another in one culture, but a completely
different meaning in another culture. If you're dressed in black that may have one meaning
in one culture but another meaning in a different culture. The picture of this onion is often
used as a metaphor for culture. You know that onions have different layers. If you cut this
onion across the middle, you will see that it consists of different layers and this symbolizes
culture. Outside, culture has a visible layer just like this onion. You see how people are
dressed. You see some behaviors-one of the first things that people notice.
When they go to a different culture is how people drive. And they're often shocked by the
driving behavior of people in some places in the world. For example, when people from
northern Europe or the United States go to most places in Asia they perceive driving as
chaotic and aggressive and they wonder why this is so. To understand what you see on the
surface, you need to get to the core of the center of the onion. And that center consists of
something else. It's not visible behaviors but it's something invisible. In the terminology of
some famous cross-cultural specialists, culture is the software of the mind. This is an
interesting parallel because you can see the hardware the computer but you cannot see the
software inside. Likewise, you can see behaviors, you can see rituals, you can see what people
eat and how they dress. But you can not see what's in their heads, their values their, beliefs
their attitudes, all the things that produce this behavior, that we call culture. And by the way,
you probably know that culture also has a different meaning. In many languages especially
in the European languages, culture is sometimes used to mean arts and the Ministry of
Culture and is usually in ministry at least in Europe. It's a ministry that takes care of
museums and churches and other cultural artifacts. But in anthropology and cross-cultural
psychology and cross-cultural management, culture has a different meaning. Culture is about
these things that we see on the surface. Behaviors and rituals and meanings and all kinds of
different symbols. It's also about the core of the onion values and beliefs and feelings and
attitudes and all kinds of invisible things that are very important because they drive the
behavior that we see outside.

(FRIENDS)

Part 4
TRANSCRIPT
What is culture is still debatable. Different sciences have a different approach to the topic of
culture. As I said, classic anthropology, which was the first approach to the study of culture,
often focus on the surface of the onion. Classic anthropologists would study institutions.
They would study symbols and their meanings. They would study practices. All these are
visible today. Cross-Cultural psychology is one of the biggest fields that studies culture and
cross-cultural psychology focuses on what is inside the onion or more precisely, what is
inside people's heads. It focuses on values, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, whatever we have in
our minds in these different focuses depend on what methodologies can be used in a
particular cultural environment.
For example, if you tried to use the methods of cross-cultural psychology questionnaires, if
you give a questionnaire to people in a society where they cannot read and write, even
though such societies are rare today, but they were quite common a hundred years ago, you
can imagine that it would be very difficult, they wouldn't be able to read the questionnaire
even if you read the questions to them. They may not be able to make sense of them, but
today almost everybody all over the world can read and write and the methods of cross-
cultural psychology work well. This is an example of classic anthropology focusing on the
surface of the onion. This is a picture of people again from Papua New Guinea performing
traditional dance and for a classic anthropologist, it is interesting to understand why they
dress like this, why they do these dances, what they expect from this ritual.
Modern anthropology, however, focuses on questionnaires, that can reveal what is inside
people's minds. For example, this is a study done regularly across Muslim nations.
Anthropologists and sociologists would like to know what people in Muslim societies think
about harsh punishments in different situations. For example, do you approve of stoning
people who commit adultery? Do you approve of whippings and cuttings off hands for theft
and robbery? Do you agree that people who leave the Muslim religion deserve the death
penalty?
These questions are asked regularly across samples of Muslim nations and the results are
always similar. We see that in some Muslim nations there is a high agreement with these
statements. For example, in Egypt, Pakistan, and other Muslim nations, the views of the local
public are much more liberal. For example, in Turkey and in Lebanon, you see that they have
a very different culture. One interesting implication of this is that these views are obviously
not generated by religion because all these societies are Muslim societies. They all believe in
Islam and they all define themselves as Muslims, but we see some large differences in this
respect between them. Therefore, the differences come from something else, not religion.
Today we know that what creates cultural differences is not different religions. Christian
versus Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and so forth. It is mostly because different nations have
different levels of economic development and different levels of education. The more
educated and wealthy a particular nation is, the more liberal the views of the local public
become.

(FRIENDS)

Part 5
Dr. Nedka Dimitrova
TRANSCRIPT
What is Culture?
The main purpose of this course is to help you develop a better awareness of how culture
shapes our attitudes, values and behavior.
The complexity of culture has been studied by many scholars in an attempt to define and
dimensionalise it.
Centuries ago, culture was associated with cultivation of agriculture, which later
transformed into a meaning related to the connection of people with nature, then further in
time culture was used to refer to cultivating the mind.
The early 19th century school of evolutionism in anthropology suggested the first formal
definition of culture by Edward Tylor, as a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society. Cultural traits were understood as representing the ethnocentric views of the
mental and moral progress in the rational society of industrializing England.
Franz Boas, an early 20th century anthropologist introduced the views of cultural relativism,
seeing culture and human behavior as conditioned and acquired solely through unconscious
learning.
All cultures are equally developed according to their own priorities and values; none is
better, more advanced, or less primitive than any other.
In modern anthropology, Schwartz suggests that human behavior can be understood
through culture as a collective phenomenon which includes language and the symbolic codes
adopted by people, and consists of learnt behaviors which are transmitted from generation
to generation within a particular cultural group.
Other scholars Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov maintain that “Culture is learned, not innate”
and it is fundamentally shaped by people’s social environment, bridging human nature and
individual’s personality, although an exact differentiation between the tree components
cannot be provided by social sciences yet.
A commonly cited definition states that “Culture consists of the unwritten rules of the social
game. It is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from others.
Another popular definition interprets culture as “the system of shared beliefs, values,
customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world
and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through
learning.
The Iceberg Model of Culture illustrates the visible (objective) and invisible (subjective)
aspects of culture which affect human life in both conscious and subconscious way.
It is much easier to recognise the visible, physical expression of greetings, food, language or
religion, however, misunderstanding the less visible psychological attitudes, values and
beliefs can act as stumbling blocks in intercultural communication.
Overall, culture is a complex system of shared values and beliefs giving people a sense of
belonging or identity.
o Communication - language and meaning
o History and geography
o Institutions
o Arts, social customs and traditions
o Ideas, beliefs, religion
o Ceremonies and festivals
o Food and cuisine
o Architecture
o Perception of time and space
o Nonverbal communication and body language
o Business etiquette
o Leadership styles
o Personal goals and incentives
This wide range of cultural factors affect people’s behavior since their birth and define one’s
identity and perceptions of the environment.

(FRIENDS)

Part 6
Dr. Nedka Dimitrova
TRANSCRIPT
Can culture be measured?
Working and studying with people from diverse cultures requires an understanding of
participants’ social values of status, respect, love and service, attitudes to in-group and out-
group, perceptions of means for control (shame and guilt), of individual growth, competition,
self-reliance, and self-awareness.
There exist plenty of subjective views and definitions based on qualitative interpretation of
culture and its main components, however, the best approach to understanding the meaning
of culture relies on objective scientific methods used for measuring the elements of culture.
The measurable elements:

o Values – personally important factors, such as religion, work, leisure, fame…
Empirical research has revealed significant differences between cultural values held
by people in different parts of the world.
o Norms – what should people do or not do. Attitudes to rules and regulations can
control and restrain one’s behavior and desires for the gratification of personal needs,
however, science suggests that norms are values that are more commonly prescribed
to others rather than to ourselves.
o Beliefs – what is considered true or false in a particular society can affect the social
organisation and the social roles of the individual. Women should look after children
and keep the household while the man should earn the family living.
o Attitudes and judgments – what do people like or dislike, what is good or bad, what
we think of someone or something…
o Self-perceptions – how happy people are with their own social relationships, well-
being, health, political views…
o Cognitive ability – usually measured through IQ tests. At the national level, the results
can be used to measure a country’s competitiveness and globalisation challenges.
o Behaviors – comparisons of different national statistics, such as consumption of
alcohol and tobacco, can provide important cross-cultural information.
o Stereotypes – generalised descriptions of societies and people in them which help to
categorize things, events and people and make sense of the world around us (Asians
are good at maths, Africans are good athletes, all Germans are engineers). Negative
stereotypes, however, can hinder open communication and lead to a wrong
perception of "us and them" or in-groups and out-groups.
The main characteristics of culture:

o Culture is shared – it is studied in relation to groups of people (nations, tribes, ethnic
groups). An individual does have a personality and not an individual culture.
Individuals within a specific group usually share similar values, norms, and beliefs. It
should be noted here that not all group members necessarily hold the same cultural
traits.
o Culture is stable – some cultural traits can be durable and stable throughout
centuries, such as religious beliefs, saving money and resources, while others can
change faster as a result of a particular economic situation – e.g. languages or partial
convergence of foods and clothing around the globe.
o Culture is symbolic – cultural traits assume various forms from material objects,
houses, pieces of art, patterns of behavior, family relationships, economic activities,
and legal sanctions, to language and beliefs, which represents specific symbols and as
such express meaning.
o Culture is a system of patterns - cultural elements as symbols have specific meanings
in relation to other symbols within the context. Interpretation of symbols requires an
investigation of the interrelatedness between all cultural elements.
Cultural traits and patterns of language, technology, institutions, beliefs, and values are
transmitted across generations through continuous learning (enculturation) in order to
adapt to the environment through cultural strategies rather than genetic predispositions.
Some scholars argue that there may exist an important relation between biology and culture.
Chapter 2: What is culture? The
concept of culture. Cultural theories.

Approaches in defining culture.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made
of the information contained therein.
Cross Cultural Research – Comparing
Nations and Their Cultures
A Cross-Cultural Encounter
What is Culture?
• Classic Anthropology: Focus on the Surface
• Institutions (Tylor)
• Symbols and their meanings (Geertz)
• Practices (Mead)
• Cross-Cultural Psychology and Modern Anthropology: Focus on

the Core
• Values, beliefs, attitudes (Hofstede, Bond, Smith, Schwartz, Ingleheart,
GLOBE, etc.)
• These focuses depend on what methodologies can be used in a

Cross-Cultural Studies (without CC management)
Discipline Topics Unit of analysis Method
CC anthropology (classic) Political system Ethnic groups Observation
Kinship system Interview
Marriage systems
Language/cognition Subjective
Interpretation
CC psychology Values Individuals Questionnaire
Beliefs Laboratory Experiment
Emotions
Traits Statistical analysis
Perception
Cognition
CC anthropology Psychological aggregates Nations Questionnaire
(modern) Rules of law National statistics
Democracy
Equality Statistical analysis
Safety
Crime
Educational achievement
Consumption patterns
Classic Anthropology
Pre-Literate societies: observation and interviews + interpretation
Modern Anthropology
Questionnaire + statistical analysis
Views of Harsh Punishments
% Favor
Stoning people who commit Whippings/cutting off of Death penalty for people
adultery hands for theft and robbery who leave the Muslim
% % religion
Turkey 16 13 5
Egypt 82 77 84
Jordan 70 58 86
Lebanon 23 13 6
Indonesia 42 36 30
Pakistan 82 82 76
Nigeria 56 65 51
Asked of Muslim only.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER Q108b-d.
Chapter 2: What is culture? The
concept of culture. Cultural theories.

Approaches in defining culture.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made
of the information contained therein.
Cross Cultural Research – Comparing
Nations and Their Cultures
A Cross-Cultural Encounter
What is Culture?
• Classic Anthropology: Focus on the Surface
• Institutions (Tylor)
• Symbols and their meanings (Geertz)
• Practices (Mead)
• Cross-Cultural Psychology and Modern Anthropology: Focus on

the Core
• Values, beliefs, attitudes (Hofstede, Bond, Smith, Schwartz, Ingleheart,
GLOBE, etc.)
• These focuses depend on what methodologies can be used in a

Cross-Cultural Studies (without CC management)
Discipline Topics Unit of analysis Method
CC anthropology (classic) Political system Ethnic groups Observation
Kinship system Interview
Marriage systems
Language/cognition Subjective
Interpretation
CC psychology Values Individuals Questionnaire
Beliefs Laboratory Experiment
Emotions
Traits Statistical analysis
Perception
Cognition
CC anthropology Psychological aggregates Nations Questionnaire
(modern) Rules of law National statistics
Democracy
Equality Statistical analysis
Safety
Crime
Educational achievement
Consumption patterns
Classic Anthropology
Pre-Literate societies: observation and interviews + interpretation
Modern Anthropology
Questionnaire + statistical analysis
Views of Harsh Punishments
% Favor
Stoning people who commit Whippings/cutting off of Death penalty for people
adultery hands for theft and robbery who leave the Muslim
% % religion
Turkey 16 13 5
Egypt 82 77 84
Jordan 70 58 86
Lebanon 23 13 6
Indonesia 42 36 30
Pakistan 82 82 76
Nigeria 56 65 51
Asked of Muslim only.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER Q108b-d.

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ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME, KEY ACTION 2

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural

Unit 1: Introduction to the IACD MOOC

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural

Unit 1: Introduction to the IACD MOOC

Hello to you all!

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

Developing intercultural communicative competence will help you to communicate more

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

Can culture be measured?

The measurable elements:

The main characteristics of culture:

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

• Cross-Cultural Psychology and Modern Anthropology: Focus on

• These focuses depend on what methodologies can be used in a

Asked of Muslim only.

Unit 2: What is culture? Concepts of culture.

• Cross-Cultural Psychology and Modern Anthropology: Focus on

• These focuses depend on what methodologies can be used in a

Asked of Muslim only.

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