Conferences

SIETAR India's 5th Annual Conference in Mumbai
“From Internationalization to Intercultural Competence”

On the 2nd & 3rd February 2013 at YB Chavan Centre, Mumbai, India

All those that would like to attend please register and purchase a ticket at http://sietarindia2013.doattend.com/

AND the Pre-Conference Workshops on 1st February 2013 at YB Chavan Centre, Mumbai, India

All those that would like to attend please register and purchase a ticket at http://preconsietarindia2013.doattend.com/

For those who would like to pay by cheque or wire transfer, please visit the site above to register. Complete the registration and select “offline payment.” Then download this form and send in your payment. Full details are provided at registration.

SIETAR India

The Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research (SIETAR)-India is a non-profit Association of educators, researchers and trainers from a wide range of practical and academic disciplines who share a common concern for intercultural relations. SIETAR-India provides an opportunity to learn from and share with colleagues in the intercultural arena and advance the body of knowledge and practice in the field.

SIETAR-India is part of the global network of SIETAR organizations. Established in 1974, SIETAR has over 3500 members world-wide with affiliates in many countries. SIETAR holds Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) status with the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

THE CONFERENCE

The purpose of the SIETAR-India conference is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, techniques, strategies, theories, tools and creative expression useful to fostering effective intercultural relations and thus to develop ourselves as intercultural practitioners and the intercultural field. Professionals from any discipline that deals with intercultural issues and fields in which intercultural work is exercised and applied are encouraged to attend.

The theme of SIETAR-India’s fifth conference:

From Internationalization to Intercultural Competence

Is cross-cultural competence merely a matter of showing up?

Would you hand someone an iPad with the understanding that this would automatically make that individual tech-savvy?

For many companies, educational institutions and NGOs, being present in multiple countries and possibly having a multi-ethnic workforce is a sign that they are cross-culturally aware. We thought this would be an interesting paradigm to explore.

Through the fog of culture we meander, observe and even stumble. Hopefully, we learn from these endeavors. But, apart from its veneer, what do we really see? Are we observing a multitude of layers to explore or just differences we need to accept? A lot of organizations actually minimize cultural differences in order to create their global HR policies.

There are several questions worth posing:

“Do multi-national companies actually build competence by the mere fact that they are present in multiple geographies?”

“Is it enough to host students from many different countries to make our student body cross-culturally competent?”

“Are global philanthropic foundations more respectful of cultural diversity?”

There is no single solution, but this conference will take these questions and provide some answers from people who are building competence in firms, educational institutes and NGOs. For this, and many other reasons, we thought this would make for a fascinating theme for the 5th SIETAR India conference.

SIETAR INDIA 2013 CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

The SIETAR India 2013 conference organizing committee brings together individuals with significant personal and professional experience on six continents representing the fields of business, marketing, communications, high tech, academia, human resources, organization development, training, education and the arts.

Mala Malkani, Independent Consultant, Mumbai
Jill Sheldekar, Ethnosynth Consulting, Pune
Lakshmi Kumar, The Orchid School, Pune
Sunita Nichani, Alliance Française de Chennai
Line Rugholt, Intercultural consultant and owner Culturewise, New Delhi
Sreemathi Ramnath, Immer Besser Consulting, Chennai
Guillaume Gevrey, Concept 2 Competence Training & Consulting, Bangalore

Best Regards,
SIETAR India Team