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In a global context where cultural interaction and exchange expands to every professional domain, a demand for cultural sensitive education is articulated more and more widely. This paper analyses a pattern of university organisation and governance opened to multiculturalism and stresses the advantages of studying in such an institution. It aims to provide a sound argumentation in favour of multiculturalism in the field of academia and lists the subsequent benefits for graduates who are expected to enter a labour market continuously shaped and transformed by cultural permeations. The paper also examines the impact of such training for the consecration of international stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore in this paper the relation between activities, communication channels and media, and common ground building in global teams. We define re-representation as a sequence of representations of the same concept using different communication channels and media. We identified the re- representation technique to build common ground that is used by team members during multimodal and multimedia communicative events in cross-disciplinary, geographically distributed settings. Our hypotheses are as follows: (1) Significant sources of information behind decisions and request for actions are embedded within the fabric of communicative events in which participants use both informal and formal media to express their ideas. Capturing these information sources can facilitate common ground building and accelerate the execution of action requests. (2) Re-representations of concepts, i.e., sequences of representations using diverse media and communication channels, mediate and accelerate common ground building. (3) The use of intra- or interdisciplinary re-representations correlates with high team performance, i.e., effective team process and high product quality. We used AEC Global Teamwork course offered in 2008-2009 as the testbed for our study to validate our hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the role of universities as actors in regional development, and the implications for approaches to knowledge, including knowledge construction. The new role for universities requires the production of knowledge, which relates to the needs of the region. Particular attention was given to the Agder region of Norway, and Agder University College. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper questions the ability of current university systems to respond appropriately to the complex demands of an Information Economy. It argues that new relationships between creative subjects and technology require new thinking about the nature and purpose of universities per se. In particular, attention is drawn to the growing involvement of the private sector in higher education. It is argued that it may not be appropriate to think of the ‘university of the future’ in terms of current public sector and quasi public sector institutions, but rather in terms of an emporium, based on an international trade in educational services, and with the ‘University’ as we now understand it occupying the functions of licensing, quality assurance and cultural custodianship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]