Intercultural Communication between Tallinn and Almaty

There is an ongoing teacher cooperation between KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Tallinn University, and its importance cannot be overestimated, as both universities are established leaders in the field of education in their respective countries that emphasise development of their research capacity and increase in number of teaching staff participating in global academic mobility.

The teacher mobility supported by the ERASMUS+ programme Key Action 1 between institutions from Programme and Partner countries aims to extend collaboration on an international scale and to contribute to the teaching of the central questions raised by intercultural communication and business management in a multilingual and multinational environment.

With the support of this programme, during the period of 29th November to 5th December 2022, Dr. Maganat Shegebayev, Assistant Professor of KIMEP Language Center, gave lectures on “The Impact of Language on Business”, “The Impact of Culture on Business”, and “Effective Business Correspondence: The Essentials of Netiquette”, which were a part of the regular course “Internationalization, Multiculturalism and the Challenges for Business Management”, with the objective of exposing students to selected topics in the area of managing in multicultural environments. The course is taught within the master’s programme in Communication Management. Dr. Shegebayev’s lectures provided vivid examples from the fields of branding, marketing, and management on the challenges companies face when expanding internationally. Students explored what business should consider in today’s rapidly globalizing world to reach out to their linguistically and culturally diverse audience. Together with Dr. Maganat Shegebayev, the students discussed how to meet the unique needs of customers or business partners in a way that takes into account the local culture.

ERASMUS+ teacher mobility between Tallinn and Almaty will continue in 2023, when Dr. Anastassia Zabrodskaja, Professor of Intercultural Communication and Head of the Communication Management master’s programme, will go to KIMEP University to teach the lectures on “Identity, Translanguaging and Intercultural Communication”.

The text is by Dr. Anastassia Zabrodskaja, Professor of Intercultural Communication, Head of the Communication Management master’s programme at the Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, and in charge of the management of the European Master’s Programme in Intercultural Communication in Tallinn University.