Enhancing global and intercultural competencies in Master of Public Administration classes

Abstract

In the 21st century Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs need to meet the challenge of preparing public affairs professionals for an increasingly global and interdependent world in which complex social problems often span national boundaries and cultural differences. In that context, various internationalization strategies can be helpful in developing the necessary global, international, and intercultural (GII) competencies that public affairs professionals need. In this paper, we evaluate a model known as Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) as an internationalization at home tool which may have potential in public affairs programs. We describe the philosophical and pedagogical approach of CLAC, and compare our experiences with three levels of CLAC integration within graduate-level public affairs classes. Based on feedback from students and observations from faculty we are able to offer preliminary assessments on the effectiveness of the CLAC approach in MPA education, and advice for MPA programs and instructors who may be interested in using CLAC to develop GII competencies among their students.

Megatrends and the future of work for public sector leaders and educators

“…Trends in public affairs education mirror developments across higher education including a renewed emphasis on competency-based curriculum design (Kapucu and Koliba, 2017), global and intercultural competency development in students (Capobianco et al , 2018) and increased use of experiential learning approaches (Gerlach and Reinagel, 2016). However, much of the existing research on public sector practitioners and leaders has tended to focus more on competencies needed today and less on competencies needed for tomorrow and even less about how they might be best learned and taught.…”

Global, international, and intercultural learning in university classrooms across the disciplines

“…Such multilingual practices provide everyone with experience in negotiating multilingual situations and some with a chance to serve as culture intermediaries, interpreting the information that not everyone can access. Among the classroom studies, Capobianco et al (2018) described courses in which a cultures-and-languages-across-the-curriculum pedagogy encourages students to use the languages they know. Clarke (2005) made sure that materials in many languages were used in his course on justice and reconciliation, asking students to interpret the ideas they gleaned from these sources for their classmates.…”

“…Some saw their academic disciplines as strongly shaped by emerging global knowledge; they believed that drawing attention to global dimensions of knowledge dissemination and practice during degree programs could elevate the quality of future professional practice among their graduates (Ferreira et al, 2012; Waldron, 2017). Others explained how pressures from globalization had an impact on their field, as in the following statement from Capobianco et al (2018: 179) about public administration:As a result of both voluntary migration and forced displacement, families, cultures, and languages are more widely dispersed. .…”

“…In fact, the calls by governments, universities, professional associations, and accrediting bodies for professional degree programs to turn out graduates with intercultural skills influenced the decisions of several researchers to add GII learning components to courses (Capobianco et al, 2018; Daly et al, 2015; Edmead, 2013; Ippolito, 2007; Knott et al, 2013). Some cited theories of intercultural competence specifically articulated for their professions.…”

Teaching diversity, cultural competency, and globalization to American public affairs students: Integrating comparative approaches to public administration and policy

“…This continues to elicit considerable reflection within Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs that seek to enhance their reputation and stature by offering an international component. In essence, globalization has advanced the expectation that today's public administrator be trained to understand how political, economic, and social factors in other nations affect the administrative process and their roles as civil servants (Deardorff, 2006;Carrizales, 2011;Capobianco et al, 2018). The result has been a 2…”