Multicultural Competence Level of University Instructors: A Perspective from a Turkish Context

Abstract

All around the world student mobility in higher education is becoming increasingly important. The mobility of university students has created classrooms where there are students with diverse backgrounds. In these multicultural classrooms, it has become essential for university instructors to understand the changing demographics of students. They must be competent enough to deliver a lecture to diverse groups. To help the instructors with their deficiencies it is important to research whether they are capable of managing cultural differences in their classrooms.In Turkey, multicultural education has gained importance. This study examines university instructors’ competence in their capability to teach students from diverse backgrounds and determine whether there is a relationship between their multicultural competence level, and their gender, and discipline taught. A quantitative, descriptive survey research design was used. 136 instructors teaching different disciplines at Y?ld?z Technical University and Marmara University in Turkey participated in the study. The participants were chosen according to random sampling method. It is seen that gender and disciplines taught play a role in multicultural competence. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p415