McRae, N., Ramji, K., Lu, L., & Lesperance, M. (2016). Developing global-ready graduates: The CANEU-COOP experience. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 17(4), 377-386.
Post-secondary institutions spend considerable resources on programs, such as study abroad and international workintegrated learning, which involve students' participation in international experiences. One significant impetus for these programs is the hope that through exposing students to international settings these students will be better prepared to be successful in global workplaces upon graduation, in essence be more "global-ready". However, simply having an international experience does not necessarily lead to the development of capabilities that result in global workplace success. In addition to the knowledge, skills and abilities required for any workplace, being successful in these global workplaces also requires intercultural effectiveness. This paper presents the findings of a study that examined the development of cultural intelligence (CQ), the ability to be effective in intercultural encounters, in students participating in a Canadian-European exchange program (CANEU-COOP) where the European students had a study term in Canada and the Canadian students had a co-op work term in Europe. The study found that while both groups of students developed CQ, there were differences between the groups. These findings reaffirm the importance of intentionally structuring international experiences to include curriculum about and assessment of intercultural effectiveness.