“Nobody is strange”: mobility and interculturality in higher education from the viewpoint of a group of Portuguese international music students

Abstract

[EN] The benefits of mobility are often related to the development of skills and competences on the adaptation to new environments and organizational forms, foreign languages, and cultures in general. In the specific case of the international students, mobility enhances the view of the institution of higher education as a global and intercultural learning space, which promotes the exchange of ideas, resources and opportunities for experimentation, global citizenship and professional opportunities. Nowadays we assist to a rising number of international students, a fact that deserves special attention and makes us turn our interest to what our own (Portuguese) international students believe as being important not only in their actual experience, but also relevant in its intercultural dimension and their academic and professional success. Henceforth, after theoretical considerations about mobility and the intercultural experiences amidst the internationalization of higher education institutions, our communication presents part of the results of a broader study focused on viewpoints and perspectives of a group of Portuguese international music students, about their intercultural experience in a foreign country ant its relationship with academic success.