Engaging with cross-cultural communication barriers in globalized higher education: the case of research-degree students

Problematic aspects of intercultural communication are considered in the context of: an increasingly internationalized market for higher education; the globalization of knowledge; the compatibility of distinct national higher education cultures; and the capacity for successful cross-cultural cooperation. This is exemplified by reference to a doctoral programme delivered by a UK-based university, largely through distance learning, to students resident in a non-anglophone country. Here, the challenges have concerned: cultural and linguistic barriers; the use of distance-based supervision; and taken-for-granted knowledge related to learning and academic levels. Anecdotal evidence suggests diverse student experiences during the supervision process, in both face-to-face and distance learning contexts, reflecting the extent of familiarity with idiomatic and technical English, and the importance of non-verbal communication. Given unequal power relations between students and university teachers, improved intercultural communicative competence may be achieved through a mutual construction of a discursive arena reflecting the dynamics of an increasingly globalized structure of academic intercourse. This may involve a critique of assumptions associated with 'national' academic cultures together with a pragmatic quest for a common lexicon. This in turn may contribute to the process of cross-national collaboration and cooperation in higher education.