INTERCULTURAL ADAPTATION: THE CASE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES

The cultural background of people that interact at an intercultural level has a strong impact on the manner in which this type of interaction takes place. Cultural diversity should not be regarded as an obstacle to communication and a threat to the specificity of one particular culture. On the contrary, the development of intercultural exchange is an opportunity to enrich one's cultural horizons and also the horizons of the community that he belongs to or that interacts with. The impact on a pre-established identity is inevitable and the challenges generated by the process of globalization focus mainly on the ability to adapt and, at he same time, not to lose specificity. The case of international student exchange programmes is an important factor in the process of intercultural interaction, as it forms a strong perception both on the students in international exchange programmes, and on the members of the host country, or the county of origin, regarding the other. Their manner of integration will be analyzed in this paper, focusing on the benefits that can be obtained due to the exchange programmes and the way in which those benefits can be increased. A case study on international mobility of Romanian university students in Bordeaux, France has the aim of reinforcing the ideas presented in the paper.