For a small and open economy like Austria's, economic ties with other countries are of particular importance.
The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 opened up enormous opportunities for many companies, particularly in Eastern Austria. In order to make good use of these opportunities, the first Austrian University of Applied Sciences degree programme in International Business Relations was launched in Eisenstadt in 1994 with the aim of training young managers for the Central and Eastern European region, preparing business economists for international activities and, in addition to business training, imparting skills in the language and culture of the Central and Eastern European region.
Even if the labour market is particularly receptive to graduates of this course and many careers confirm the success of the training, what will the future hold? Is there still a need for young managers with specialised knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe? How important is knowledge of the language and culture if "everything is negotiated in English anyway"? When there are digital simultaneous translators for foreign languages that can be used via an app? Is learning a Central and Eastern European language therefore still relevant for business relationships in the CEE region?
The destination is not always a world metropolis where you can expect to know English. For example, if you are travelling in Moscow without being able to read Cyrillic, you won't even be able to decipher a simple stop sign in traffic ("СТОП" in Cyrillic).
But let's go one step further: learning a language is closely linked to cultural aspects - traditions and values that are also slightly different to those we know from home. Raising awareness of encounters with people from other countries and cultures is an important educational goal - but this is difficult to convey in the classroom. The best way to achieve this is by gaining personal experience in the context of real intercultural encounters in the host country, e.g. during a summer school or a work placement in Central and Eastern Europe.
Knowing each other's culture creates a sense of closeness and prevents gross mistakes in communication and avoids misunderstandings - an often underestimated success factor for achieving project goals.
After all, the handling of international projects by intercultural project teams is still a living reality in many companies.
Prof. (FH) Dr Tonka Semmler-Matošić heads the Bachelor's degree programme in International Business Relations, the oldest and largest degree programme at FH Burgenland. The article was written as a guest contribution for the Wiener Zeitung in winter 2021/22
