Four UPV students join exchange program at NCSU

Four students of UP Visayas were accepted in the North Carolina State Developing Cultural Competence Online Program of the North Carolina State University (NCSU).

These students are Cherie Izzy Azarcon, BA in Psychology IV; Timoteo Balensoy III, BA in Psychology IV; ML Fariñas, BA in Psychology IV; and Grand Gascon, BS Chemical Engineering IV.

The Developing Cultural Competence Course is a 4-week course for students to earn the Global Training Initiative’s (GTI) Developing Cultural Competence Student Certificate while learning alongside diverse students around the globe. GTI uses the Training Management Corporation (TMC)/Berlitz Cultural Orientations Model as a guiding framework for teaching and discussing culture.

The online exchange program will be for the entire month of September 2021 and has the following courses: 1) Orientation and Introduction, 2) Foundations for Developing Cultural Competence, 3) Developing Cultural Knowledge Week and 4) Skills and Application.

At the end of the program, the students are expected to have the following learning outcomes:

• Identify the ways in which culture influences worldview
• Identify their own cultural preferences and will have the tools to understand the preferences of others
• Promote cultural awareness in personal and professional settings
• Implement strategies for working effectively across cultural differences

The students participating in the course came from diverse backgrounds, fields of study, and nationalities. (Ms. Mary Lyncen Fernandez, IPO)