Karen M. Lauridsen

One of the aspects of English Medium Instruction (EMI) and Internationalisation at Home (IaH) is that students are expected to work together in peer groups across linguistic and cultural barriers, e.g. to complete mandatory assignments in small groups. However, students’ attitude and response to this form of cooperation differ widely.
This paper discusses the benefits and tensions of work in diverse peer groups exemplified by the findings of a study of student responses to intercultural collaboration in a master of business programme. One conclusion is that the international students are more prepared to work in multicultural groups than are their home students. And once students have experience with group diversity, at least some of them become more open towards working in such groups in future. The paper discusses the possible reasons for these differences in responses and recommends more comprehensive research on this topic in non-English environments.