Australia is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world: 26% of Australians were born overseas, nearly 1 in 2 people have at least one parent born outside the country, and 3% of the population are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage. This diversity is growing both in absolute numbers and in the variety of cultures represented. This is why it’s increasingly important for organisations and teams to manage their cultural diversity. The Cultural Diversity course helps individuals to gain practical skills and culturally specific knowledge for use in the workplace and everyday life.
Core themes
- The “Why?” of cultural inclusion
- Cultural differences and similarities
- Practical cultural communication
- Cross-cultural communication
- Cultural adaptation
- Australia by the numbers
Learning objectives
By completing the Cultural Diversity course, you will be able to:
- Understand what culture is, and recognise that it impacts all aspects of behaviour
- Understand that cultures have similarities and differences, especially with relation to direct / indirect communication, the perception of time, and greetings
- Understand the importance of family across cultures
- Recall Hofstede’s dimensions and how they can be used to measure differences in values across cultures
- Recognise the concept of ‘face’ and examples of how ‘face’ is expressed in some cultural contexts
- Understand how written, verbal and non-verbal expressions might vary across cultures
- Understand how environment and object language vary across cultures
- Identify obstacles to successful cross-cultural communication and measures that can be used to negate differences
- Define the different stages of cultural adaptation, understand how they may impact a person, and identify measures that facilitate a smooth transition through the stages
- Understand historical and current migration trends and the impact on the Australian population and in relation to Australian religious diversity
- Understand historical and current population trends for Indigenous Australian
- Gain an insight into the changing values of Australia
Enrol
If you are interested in taking this course, please enrol via Moodle.
- Ensure you are logged into Moodle.
- Access the course using this unique link.
- You will be presented with a page with the self-enrolment options.
- Under self-enrolment (student) enter the self-enrolment key (SBSC_Enrol) to access the course (use this even if you are a staff member).
If you experience any issues enrolling please consult the Moodle guide to self-enrolment. You can also contact us at edi@unsw.edu.au with your zID number and the course you are trying to access.