Eithne Knappitsch – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Knappitsch Guest Post: Empowering Remote-Ready Graduates

Empowering Remote-Ready Graduates: The Transformative Role of Virtual Exchange in Career-Oriented Education. Guest post by Eithne Knappitsch.

The integration of Virtual Exchange (VE) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) into career-oriented education represents a significant evolution in preparing students for the modern workforce. These innovative educational models not only bridge geographical and cultural gaps, offering a responsible form of international exchange, but also align closely with the shift towards competency-based learning, equipping students with the necessary skills and competencies for remote work and leadership in virtual teams. Recent studies indicate that Higher Educational Institution (HEI) educators are increasingly aware of the potential of VE in contributing to innovation and skills development.

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Knappitsch Guest Post: The Global Case Study Challenge

The Global Case Study Challenge: Competencies for the Future of Work in Virtual Environments.
Guest post by Eithne Knappitsch.

The Global Case Study Challenge (GCSC) began as a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)/Virtual Exchange program, offering students an authentic and immersive intercultural learning opportunity. As the importance of New Work and remote work contexts grew following COVID, it became clear that students and professionals needed to develop more effective competencies to excel virtual and hybrid work environments. Initial iterations of the GCSC revealed that while students possessed strong digital skills, they frequently lacked essential digital collaboration competencies – the attitude, knowledge, and skills to become high performing teams in diverse, interdisciplinary, and international contexts. Recognizing this gap in competencies needed for future New Work environments and those acquired at higher educational institutions, the need for the GCSC to further develop into a transformative, career-oriented global teaching and learning program became obvious. At the same time, the GCSC management team – a virtual female-led team – became inspired by the potential for virtual exchange to contribute to a paradigm shift in higher educational settings as responsible and sustainable forms of education (and internationalization). The GCSC, over the five consequent iterations from 2018 onward evolved into a transformative program, resulting in the development of the GLOW model. This CID guest post explores how the GCSC GLObal Work (GLOW) model addresses these pressing needs and empowers students and educators with the competencies required to excel in virtual and intercultural work settings.

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Eithne Knappitsch Profile

Dr. Eithne Knappitsch is Professor of Intercultural Management at Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (FH Kärnten), Villach, Austria. Additionally, she is a corporate trainer and consultant, bringing her expertise to organizations seeking to enhance intercultural teamwork dynamics, leadership, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), and sustainability.

Eithne Knappitsch

Eithne is passionate about the interplay between people, culture, communication (and language), and connectivity. She is dedicated to promoting conscious personal and professional leadership in her training and teaching endeavors. And she considers herself a “pracademic,” bridging the gap between academic and practitioner contexts.

Based in the tri-border region of southern Austria, which includes Slovenia and Italy, Eithne has a special affinity for borderscapes, both physical and virtual. She grew up in Inishowen on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border and spent some time working as a researcher for the Culture, Arts & Leisure Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She describes herself as a “border person,” having developed a sense of comfort in liminal or in-between spaces. Eithne is a founding member of the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network, a network established in 2010 with 17 university, research institution, and training partners from 9 border regions in Europe. TEIN focuses on strengthening European integration and cross-border cooperation, embodying Eithne’s commitment to practical intercultural collaboration in Europe.

Drawing upon her expertise in Intercultural Management, Eithne equips her learners with the necessary competencies and perspectives for success in a globalized world and the opportunities of New and Remote Work. Her ability to bridge academic theory and practical application enhances the development of essential skills among her learners.

Eithne’s contributions extend beyond academia. She served as the President of SIETAR Austria (Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research) from 2019 to 2022, actively promoting intercultural understanding and competence. Moreover, Eithne co-founded the Global Case Study Challenge, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a future-oriented movement of global, conscious, and sustainable thinkers, doers, and leaders. The GCSC offers an award-winning Virtual Exchange/COIL program, focusing on intercultural communication, digital collaboration, and sustainability competencies. In addition, she is involved in the Transcultural Competence Expert group at the Leadership Excellence Institute at Zeppelin University, a Delphi study on transcultural competence, and active in a working group for the World Council for Intercultural and Global Competence

Selected publications:

Knappitsch, E. (2023). A new narrative of leadership in the context of global virtual teams? In J. B. Montecinos, T. Grünfelder, and J. Wieland (Eds.), A relational view on cultural complexity: Implications for theory and practice (pp. 367-389). Cham: Springer.

Knappitsch, E. (2017). Bias mindfulness and perceptual shift: Key to managing a diverse workforce. In SIETAR Europa Congress Proceedings Cultural Dexterity for Turbulent Times, 22-27 May, 2017. Dublin: SIETAR Europa.

Knappitsch, E. (2008). 10 October commemorations in Carinthia: Promoting unity or division? Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 16(2), 171-187.

Knappitsch, E., & Caliskan, S. (2017). Managing bias in HR: From recruiting to retaining a diverse workforce. In B. Covarrubias Venegas, K. Thill, & J. Domnanovich (Eds.), Internationales Personalmanagement. Rollen – Kompetenzen – Perspektiven: Implikationen für die Praxis. SpringerGabler.

Buko, S., Knappitsch, E., Zinenko, A., & Covarrubias-Venegas, B. (2022). The Global Case Study Challenge: A virtual exchange developing global work competencies. European Conference on e-Learning, 21(1), 32-41.

Deckert, C., Schomaker, R., & Knappitsch, E. (2022). Cultural impacts on national innovativeness and entrepreneurship. In Innovation and entrepreneurship: Theory and practice (pp. 57-84). WSB University.

Döring, T., Knappitsch, E., & Aigner, B. (2010). Political competences within the EU and their significance for the Western Balkans. European Perspectives, 2(2/3), 15-39.

Work for CID:

Eithne Knappitsch wrote a guest post on The Global Case Study Challenge: Competencies for the Future of Work in Virtual Environments in 2023, and on Empowering Remote-Ready Graduates: The Transformative Role of Virtual Exchange in Career-Oriented Education in 2024.