Learning culture outside the lecture hall through the Advantage Award

Grace Baranowski

By Grace Baranowski, Spanish and international media and communications studies student

 Deciding to complete a Nottingham Advantage Award (NAA) during my year abroad was a bold choice, considering my enrolment in various other commitments, but a choice I do not regret in the slightest. 

How I chose my modules 

To complete my Nottingham Advantage Award, I enrolled onto two modules that coincided with my studies, but also my interests and work at the time. These modules were Outgoing Study Abroad – Developing Cultural Awareness and A window on the world: An intercultural journey from the local to the global.  At the time of study, I was undertaking my compulsory year abroad in Seville, Spain working as an English language assistant. Therefore, my module selection was hugely based on the fact that I was living and working in a new cultural environment.    

Developing Cultural Awareness module

My primary module of developing cultural awareness was an extremely beneficial way to understand my journey of leaving home to undergo a huge cultural change, both emotionally and physically.

I was able to learn at a deeper level about: 

• Cultural differences 
• The nine core cultural values 
• Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions 
• Cultural adaptation 
• Communication   
• Understanding my cultural self

This careful and thoughtful collection of units was cultivated perfectly and was extremely eye-opening for me to study after moving and working away. I would recommend any year abroad students to enrol on this too as it can be a difficult experience to navigate alone. 

A Window on the World module  

The second module, ‘A window on the world’ allowed me to apply my newfound cultural knowledge and look further into how cultural theories are developed and understood globally but also on a smaller and more local scale. 

A unit within this module that really stood out to me was ‘Cultural intelligence within the workplace’. This module included an interesting Harvard Business article: Cultural intelligence in the workplace.

Despite looking at culture within my first and second year of study at UoN, I had never come across an analysis of how culture affects everybody’s working life. Upon completing the unit, I began to understand my new workplace in Seville a lot better. I gained knowledge about how multicultural and diverse teams of people approach their occupation in different ways, while also understanding that everybody’s level of cultural intelligence varies.  

This also meant that my day to day working life as an English language assistant improved, as I saw myself as less and less of an outsider, but rather a welcomed and valued team member, and I could also distinguish reasons as to why people found my choice of work, my studies and my life so intriguing, and it was all down to their level of cultural intelligence. 

My final thoughts 

Overall, both modules provided me an extreme sense of comfort within the highs and lows I was feeling while living abroad, and my personal development and understanding gained from the Award is something I do not believe I would have gotten anywhere else. As cliché as it sounds, I think that gaining these skills when working abroad has been a huge blessing, and something I will carry with me into every new experience both within my studies and outside of them. 

 Discover more about the Nottingham Advantage Award and the different modules on offer. If you have any questions, contact the NAA team.