International networking among students is not merely an addition to the study process; rather, it can become a central didactic approach through which we intentionally develop competencies for the global business environment. When students collaborate in nationally mixed teams, they learn to recognize cultural differences, bridge them, and in doing so shape solutions that are not only “correct” but also feasible in a real intercultural context.
The key added value of such a course implementation lies in the fact that students do not merely acquire knowledge about intercultural differences, but also gain experience of collaboration in an international environment. Such learning encourages innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, and strengthens the ability to design practical solutions for real companies and real-life situations.
International networking within the course was planned with clear objectives: to encourage teamwork among students from different national environments, to develop comprehensive, innovative, and global thinking, decision-making, and action, to strengthen intercultural communication skills, and to meaningfully integrate digital tools (and, where needed, AI) as support for collaboration in international teams.
The objectives were designed to guide students from understanding concepts to applying them in practice, and above all toward reflection and the creation of solutions that take cultural context into account.
International networking was carried out within the Intercultural Management course in September. A total of 36 Slovenian and 61 Croatian students participated in the implementation. The course content was available to students in their local languages, while the lecturer’s presentations and most of the literature were in English. Students could prepare the team assignment in English, Slovenian, or Croatian – depending on the agreement within the nationally mixed team.
A special feature of the implementation was the thoughtful organization of teams. The instructions first determined the numerical distribution of students into teams, after which online mentors grouped the students into nationally mixed teams within the MS Teams environment. In this way, the teams were balanced and composed so that the international dimension was genuinely present in daily collaboration, not merely declarative.
The core of the work was a concrete business challenge dealing with intercultural differences in the economic world. Students first had to identify cultural differences, then explain their impact on business collaboration, and finally propose ways to bridge those differences.
Within such a learning framework, students do not remain at the level of general statements about “different cultures”; rather, they are confronted with questions characteristic of real business practice: what happens when differing expectations regarding communication, agreements, leadership, or the way feedback is given affect the success of collaboration? And above all: how should one act in such a situation so that the solution is effective and culturally appropriate?
Online mentors played the role of a support infrastructure in the implementation, enabling international networking to run smoothly. Their work focused primarily on motivating students and maintaining continuity of work, providing technical assistance in navigating the digital learning environment (MS Teams), monitoring deadlines and preventing the “dropout” of individuals or teams, and establishing connections among students, the course instructor, and the faculty’s support network. This role of mentors proved particularly important in an international environment, where students more frequently experience feelings of uncertainty (due to language, the digital organization of work, or communication with “unknown” participants from another country).
International networking within the course enables a clear didactic progression of objectives. At the level of understanding, students master concepts of intercultural differences and explain them in their own words – not as definitions, but as explanations of consequences in business situations. At the level of application, they transfer theory into a concrete case study: they do not merely describe models, but use them to explain why misunderstandings or ineffective collaboration arise in a given situation. At the level of analysis, they compare perspectives: how participants from different cultural environments may understand the same event, the same agreement, or the same business gesture differently. It is precisely the nationally mixed teams that make it possible for the analysis not to be merely “about others,” but to take place within the collaboration itself. At the level of evaluation, students assess the appropriateness of proposed solutions: which solution is at the same time effective, ethical, and culturally appropriate, and why. They learn to argue, not merely to propose. At the level of creation, they design recommendations and solutions that bridge differences and are applicable in the real economic environment. It is precisely here that learning becomes most authentic: students do not reproduce knowledge, but build a new, feasible practice of collaboration.
International networking within the course enables students to develop global thinking and greater sensitivity to cultural contexts. Working in nationally mixed teams strengthens the ability to collaborate, adapt, and seek common solutions. Students gain an experience that is difficult to achieve in a traditional learning environment: the experience that success in solving a business challenge does not depend only on the “correct content,” but also on the way they apply knowledge in relation to others – within a specific cultural framework. It is an effective approach to developing the competencies required by the modern business environment: teamwork, intercultural communication, global thinking, and the ability to shape practical solutions. With thoughtful team organization, a clearly designed learning task, and the support of online mentors, such a course implementation becomes more than a study obligation – it becomes a simulation of a real working environment in which students learn to act confidently and responsibly.
