Developing Multicultural Competence in Social and Health Care Higher Education A Case Study from two Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland

Practical placement is an essential part of the social and health care higher education studies. Apart from the national students, there are an increasing number of English-taught degree programmes in European Higher Education Institutions (HEI) which attract foreign applicants from all over the world. In addition to foreign degree students, a vast number of Erasmus students do their exchange mobility period as practice in social and health care organizations. However, teacher- and clinical supervisors ’ competence in guiding multiculturally diverse students varies widely in European countries, and most of the supervisors do not have enough competencies and skills in guiding foreign students. Nevertheless, the guidance skills of the supervisors play a major role in the success of the students ’ learning experience. This master’s thesis, which was a case study from two Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Finland (Jyväskylä UAS and Lahti UAS) and their working life partners, was carried out as a part of Erasmus Life Long Learning (LLP) project “Soulbus ” to find out what are the good practices already in use in when supervising multicultural social and health care higher education students in clinical settings and what are the main needs challenges for th