IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

This article aims at highlighting a new way of education in the 21st century. It is stated that problem-based learning is one of the most useful methods to study international business today.

What are the critical 21st century skills every student needs to survive and succeed in our world? According to the University of Melbourne research, they are the following:

1. Ways of thinking. Curiosity, critical thinking, problem-solving, determination and learning

2. Ways of working. Communication and collaboration

3. Tools for working. Information and communications resources and information literacy

4. Skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and career, and personal and social reliability [1]

It is the project-based learning, that lets students develop all the necessary skills that they need at the age of Information nowadays.

Problem-based learning or project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered way of studying a subject in which students study through the experience of solving a real open-ended problem. Students learn both looking for an appropriate strategy of a solution a problem and certain knowledge in their sphere.

To illustrate the issue the X-Culture project was chosen.

The X-Culture project started in 2010 and has been repeated every semester since then [2]. To date, over 4000 students from 40 countries and 100 universities have participated in the X-Culture project.

The Tyumen State University has been taking part in the project since 2014. There are 60 students who have already received their Collaboration Certificates as a document confirming their participation in the project.

Students from all over the world join virtual teams, made of 5-7 people from different Universities. Every team carries out research and makes a business proposal for a real international company. The projects consists of 8 stages and lasts 2 months.

Every week the members of the team communicate with each other via the Internet and other modern information technologies (e.g. mobile telephones, skype etc.). They learn more about the companies and look for the best strategies for their development. To perform the assignments, the project participants have to read a lot of articles, related to International Business, Marketing, Management, Finance and Accounting in English.

During the project the students have to learn to cooperate in a team expressing their opinions, generating ideas, exchanging their experience. They should gain a deep insight into the company’s problems and offer the best solutions. The participants should enhance their cross-cultural communication skills to be able to get on well with people of various nationalities, from different cultural backgrounds. Their task is not only to put forward a business proposal, but also build up friendly mutually beneficial relationships in a team.

In this way students learn to apply their theoretical knowledge. They do not only improve their level of English, but also acquire new information, their future career skills and gain useful experience of learning through practice.

To sum up, the advantages of participating in the international online projects, we can distinguish the following:

1. A possibility for students to try themselves in real business challenges. They can receive a firsthand knowledge of being a part of the international business project. They can make their own mistakes and correct them under the supervision of their teachers and other professionals.

2. Cross-cultural experience. There are not so many ways to get a multicultural experience in modern conditions in Russia. It is considered that participating in different projects in the bachelor’s course is a unique opportunity to obtain such knowledge.

3. Developing Business English skills. When you are a part of a team you can not just free ride and do nothing. You have to explain your point of view and help your teammates to make a report because you depend on each other.

4. Experience of working in the international team. “You can not learn international business from textbooks,” – that is what is said by the organizers of X-Culture.

The disadvantages are symmetric:

1. Sometimes real business and problems scare students because that is not their field of study or they have never faced anything like that. The participants should be ready for a big volume of information that they can face.

2. Not all people from different cultures are friendly and ready to work as a team. Some people are just too individual and they want everyone to obey them. That does not work this way.

3. Not all the team members speak English very well. Sometimes it could be hard for you to communicate. But that is a part of cross-cultural collaboration.

4. Not all of you teammates are ready to work hard. This way you can try to persuade your teammate or just do your part of work.

The recommendation is regardless all the disadvantages - try yourself in different activities. That is so important nowadays, because there are only 14% of TSU students, who have ever participated in any international projects. We can gain real profits as future specialists, who need this experience for their life-long education and career. Our university has been participating in a very important program 5-100, that means that the whole structure should be turned to the main universal values such as tolerance and collaboration. Participating in the international online projects can change the face of higher education in Russia and all over the world.

References:

1. Justin Marquis Ph.D., Building the Ideal Skill Set for 21st Century Employment, URL: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2013/07/building-the-ideal-skill-set-for-21st-century-employment/

2. Taras, V., Bryla, P., Forquer, S., Jimenez, A., Minor, M., Muth, T., Ordenana, X., Rottig, D., Sarala, R.M, Zakaria, N., & Zdravkovic, S. (2012). Changing the Face of International Business Education: The X-Culture Project. AIB Insights, 12(4), 11-17.

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