Navigating Academia and Business 5 credits

This workshop-based course provides an essential foundation, equipping you with academic, interpersonal, and professional competencies needed to thrive in your studies and future career. The course facilitates self-awareness and recognition of individual values, strengths, and areas for continued development. Through collaborative activities with students from around the world, you will develop cross-cultural awareness and communication capabilities. The course offers a platform to practice and understand the foundations of professional teamwork while building the inclusive mindset essential for working in global business contexts. As an academic onboarding, the course introduces you to critical thinking, efficient reading and writing strategies, and reflective use of technology and artificial intelligence in your studies. Upon completion, you will understand the challenges of cross-cultural collaboration and be able to reflect on your own and others’ behavior in diverse teams. You will recognise keys to professional communication and planning in teamwork, including time management, meeting deadlines, and providing constructive feedback. The course will also provide you with practical tools for approaching academic literature and using technology and AI responsibly and efficiently in your academic work. **Connection to Research** The course draws on three main research areas connected to contemporary business education: self-awareness and professional development, cross-cultural collaboration, and academic capability. The course also builds on research in cross-cultural management and intercultural competence, providing evidence-based insights into diverse collaboration, communication, and inclusive teamwork. Finally, it incorporates research on academic literacy and critical thinking, introducing structured approaches to academic writing and the responsible use of AI. **Connection to Practice** Through workshops, reflection exercises, and a team-based activities, you engage with situations similar to those encountered in global academic and professional environments. Working in culturally diverse teams, you will explore how values, communication styles, and assumptions influence teamwork and decision-making, while practicing skills such as constructive feedback, active listening, conflict management, and inclusive collaboration. The course links research on cross-cultural communication and teamwork to practical situations, helping you to develop competencies relevant for international and professional contexts. **Connection to Ethics, Responsibility, Sustainability (ERS)** Ethics, responsibility, and sustainability are embedded in the course through course material, workshops, and exercises. You will have the opportunity to critically examine how values, biases, and assumptions shape communication, inclusion, and decision-making in diverse teams. The course also addresses academic responsibility through work on academic integrity and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. These activities help you to develop self-awareness, better understand their value compass, and collaborative capabilities essential for navigating academic and business.