ABSTRACT
The course Making Cultural Diversity Work is part of a postgraduate programme on development studies at UC Leuven-Limburg, a university college made up of 170 nationalities located in Leuven, a small, historical college town. The course represents the UNESCO programme area of culture and focuses on making cultural diversity work through the effective application of intercultural competencies. The general goal of 'discovering different ways of making cultural diversity work' translates into the specific challenge to mobilise the diversity of communication and collaboration styles within the student group for higher performance in time-pressed project work. In the assessment of individual portfolios, students narrate personal intercultural experiences and make sense of them with reference to theoretical concepts from course readings such as multiple identities, otherising, or small cultures. The experience-based and interaction-oriented approach in the course creates a conducive environment for the development of intercultural competence.
