PAP0394 - Educational Mobility in Intercultural Perspective. The Polish-Portuguese Case

The opening of state borders and job markets encourages mobility processes and intensifies intercultural contacts. These interactions are especially visible in the case of international programs, such as the Erasmus scholarship. The special value of these exchanges lies in the opportunity given to the attendants in their adolescence period: to associate with a different culture and society in a longer perspective, to get to know “the difference” and to develop their own cultural potential. The student exchange creates better educational conditions, gives the opportunity to raise the social status of scholarship holders and makes them gain new competences in a multicultural environment (e.g. language, education). To put it in Bourdieuan terms, they obtain a new habitus. Moreover, most of them become part of an international network of contacts and accumulate social capital – this fact influences later on their life attitudes and choices. The life learning process in an international environment is regarded nowadays as highly valuable. The competences acquired during this process smooth the path to the understanding of “the others”, and enable the work in the framework of different organizational cultures (G. Hofstede). However, the advantages of scholarship programs are not exploited enough in Polish-Portuguese relations. This causes losses both in the economical and socio-cultural dimensions, as mutual opportunities remain neglected. The aim of the paper will be to present the results of a research conducted among Polish youth of former holders of Erasmus scholarship in Portugal. The results will provide a sketch of the framing of Portuguese culture by Polish students, and also information about the influence of the Erasmus experience on their attitude life choices. We will try to answer the question whether these “Portuguese elements” are present in the career and private life of Polish students. It is a vital issue if experiences gained during external scholarships help to improve the competences to work in an international environment and facilitate intercultural contacts.

Izabela Bukalska is a PhD candidate in The Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Science and member of Sociology of Culture Department in Institute of Sociology in Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. She held scholarships in University in Porto and Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. Research interests: intercultural communication, national minorities, changes in national identity as an effect of intercultural contacts, etc