Exloring the effect of erasmus program on cultural intelligence of university students

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative research was to investigate the difference between cultural intelligence of university students who have participated in Erasmus Student Mobility program and of those who have not, while their personality trait “openness to experience” is controlled. Data were collected from 450 students at a public university in Ankara studying in different disciplines and at varying grade levels through survey: Cultural Intelligence Scale, and Openness to Experience sub-scale of Big Five Inventory Scale. MANCOVA results indicated that participating in Erasmus Program has a statistically significant effect on all sub-dimensions of cultural intelligence (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral), when openness to experience personality trait is controlled. Moreover, the results showed that openness to experience personality trait is a statistically significant covariate for the study.