Five Universities from Five Countries Launch a Joint Master’s Degree Program in Intercultural Leadership

“Diversity is a resource that allows us to learn from one another,” says FH Professor PD Dr. Andreas Auinger, Dean of the School of Management at FH Upper Austria’s Steyr Campus. In his view, this principle applies equally to collaboration among universities and higher education institutions as it does to individual students. This belief lies at the heart of the newly launched Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in InterCultural Leadership in the Digital Era (CLIDE).

Coordinated by Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, the program brings together the University of Granada (Spain), Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics (Ukraine), Hassan II University of Casablanca (Morocco), and FH Upper Austria’s Steyr Campus.

The program equips students with the skills to lead intercultural and international teams in an increasingly digitalized global work environment.

The CLIDE program receives funding from the European Union under the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s initiative.

The new Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in InterCultural Leadership in the Digital Era (CLIDE) was officially launched at a ceremonial kick-off event held at Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Toruń, Poland. The program has already generated strong interest among prospective students: more than 1,100 applicants registered on the official CLIDE website for just 25 places per year.

Applications for future cohorts will also be accepted exclusively through the program’s official Erasmus Mundus application portal. Direct applications to any of the five partner universities are not possible.

CLIDE Partnership Represents Key Step in FH Upper Austria’s Internationalization Efforts
For FH Upper Austria, which will become the UAP University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in January 2027, participation in CLIDE represents a significant step in advancing its internationalization strategy. As a member of a five-partner consortium spanning Europe and beyond, the Steyr campus contributes its expertise in intercultural management and digital transformation to the program’s curriculum, helping prepare students for leadership roles in an increasingly interconnected and technology-driven world.

Steyr Campus Responsible for Intercultural Leadership Component in CLIDE Program
FH Upper Austria is responsible for the program’s second semester, which focuses on “Leading Intercultural Teams.” Courses taught at the Steyr campus cover a wide range of topics, including intercultural management, applied leadership psychology, international human resource management, communication in distributed intercultural teams, inclusive leadership, master’s thesis preparation, as well as Austrian culture and German language skills in a business context.

The goal is not merely to help students understand cultural differences, but to prepare them to effectively lead people and teams across cultural, geographic, and organizational boundaries. The semester’s practice-oriented approach, featuring case studies, team projects, problem-based learning, and simulations of international teams, reflects the core mission of a University of Applied Sciences. Students are expected not only to learn about leadership in theory, but to experience and practice it firsthand in realistic, international settings.
 

Dean Andreas Auinger attends the official opening of the Erasmus Mundus Master’s program CLIDE
At the inaugural ceremony, FH Upper Austria was represented by Dean Andreas Auinger and two professors from the Global Sales and Marketing (GSM) degree program, Professor Piotr Kwiatek and Professor Christopher Korntner-Kanitz. Both are members of the program’s development team and governing board and have been actively involved in shaping CLIDE from its inception.

In his remarks, Auinger emphasized that management is inherently international, as economic challenges do not stop at national borders. Consequently, management education should also extend beyond national boundaries. He encouraged the international students to make the most of their time in Austria and Upper Austria by engaging with local people and organizations and gaining firsthand experience of different approaches to work, leadership, and business.
 

Preparing Leaders for a Digitally Connected World
“In the context of digital transformation, I am convinced that while technologies, AI tools, and organizations will continue to evolve, the ability to understand people, communicate across differences, build trust, and take responsibility for others will remain a fundamental pillar of leadership,” says Andreas Auinger, reflecting on his approach to intercultural management.

Auinger further encouraged students not to measure the success of the next two years solely by the number of ECTS credits they earn, but also by “how many assumptions they have challenged, how many new perspectives they have encountered, and how many relationships they have built across borders.”

FH Upper Austria looks forward to welcoming the first cohort of CLIDE students to its Steyr campus in the summer semester of 2027.