About GSiK

Globalisation and internationalisation have culturally pluralised our living environment. Intercultural competence is not only a key qualification for managers and employees of internationally operating companies, universities and public authorities, but should also be a general educational goal of every personal development programme. The University of Würzburg is pursuing this goal with the Global Systems and Intercultural Competence (GSiK) project.

This applies to cooperation in cross-cultural business dealings and private relationships, but also when travelling abroad and in multicultural Germany itself. Culture should not be understood as a constructed national culture, but as a way of life. Last but not least, it is important to bear in mind thatcultures are also heterogeneous and dynamic in themselves. Intercultural competence therefore lies not so much in the ability to call up a fixed canon of knowledge, but in the ability to deal adequately with certain types of information, with people, situations and unfamiliar structures, in other words: to be flexible and multi-perspective in one's thinking and actions. Intercultural competence thus becomes a fundamental component of academic academic competence.

The GSiK project has been putting together a comprehensive, interdisciplinary teaching programme for all students every semester since 2008. The programme focuses on globalcontexts and systemsas well as intercultural competence(GSiK).

GSiK thus offers students the opportunity to acquire important core competences during their studies and to have their participation in GSiK events certified by JMU.