MINORIA-MAJORIA: AN EFFECTIVE INTERCULTURAL SKILLS WORKSHOP FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

The skills that are required for engineers to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the 21st century are different to those learned by traditional engineering students. One skill which has been identified as a requirement is an Intercultural competence. As part of the PROFESS 12 research project, the intercultural workshop Minoria - Majoria was facilitated with a group of 20 students: 10 from TU Dublin and 10 from Ulster University. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate the skills required in intercultural negotiations. Seven different nationalities were represented in the workshop. One of the valuable outcomes reported was that students learned that listening was a useful tool to manage misunderstanding. Both qualitative and quantitative feedback demonstrated that the intercultural skills learning outcomes were met. This paper provides a template for this workshop to be used with engineering students worldwide