Intercultural Learning Program

The Intercultural Learning Program (ILP) is a way to build your intercultural skills at home or abroad. The ILP involves discovering how your own cultural identities shape the way you understand and operate in the world and recognize culture at work in your everyday experiences. Simply immersing yourself in a different culture does not automatically lead to deeper intercultural awareness. Growing your intercultural understanding depends on a blend of personal motivation and guided learning. Students who participate in our program have reflected on the benefits of this learning, including more confidence in their intercultural communication skills and becoming better mentors and leaders in their communities. We meet multiple times over the semester (workshops, outings, socials and peer discussion groups) so there are plenty of ways to get involved!

There are many benefits to enhancing your intercultural sensitivity, but here are just a few:

• Think about your own cultural identities as a domestic, international, or exchange student in the U of T community.
• Recognize the multiple ways that a person’s culture can influence their behaviour and expectations in academic, professional and personal contexts.
• Apply frameworks of intercultural communication to how you can successfully collaborate with peers or supervisors.
• Develop your own intercultural learning goals and strategies to better communicate and understand across cultural differences.

The ILP is a CCR eligible program.