The Development of intercultural skills amoung accounting students: an analysis of qualitative

This paper reports results from an action research project for facilitating the development of intercultural skills among postgraduate and undergraduate accounting students at the University of Canberra. This project was part of a broader project called, “Internationalisation at Home”, funded for two years by the OTL (Office of Teaching and Learning) which involved the business and health faculties at two Australian universities. An earlier paper, written as part of this project, provided statistical evidence that participants in the accounting units which were part of the project showed greater intercultural learning than similar students in a control group of units outside the project. This paper further presents the qualitative evidence and the results of an analysis of the reflective learning journals submitted by the students as part of their assessment. Students were asked to reflect on their experience of working in multicultural groups in tutorials and in group assignments in these units. The results show that most of the students, particularly the international students, found the experience very productive. They especially liked the opportunity to get to know other students outside their own cultural groups. The paper also provides evidence about what students considered to be most important in creating a successful group experience. The paper concludes with a discussion of areas for future development of the approach adopted in this project.