Intercultural communicative competence and medical students from Haiti: the case of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at National University of Rosario, Argentina

Abstract

This paper shows how the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the National University of Rosario in Argentina responds to the growing number of students from Haiti who have come to Rosario city during the last few years. These strategies are analyzed from the intercultural communicative competence concept -formed by attitudes, knowledge and skills- which arise when interacting with people from other cultures. An ethnographic methodological strategy was designed, and interviews and documental analysis were conducted, with the objective of determining the way in which the Departments of Medicine, Nursery and Speech Therapy meet the different needs arising from the integration of immigrants from one of the most impoverished countries on earth. As there are no antecedents on this empirical scope, this research is explanatory; specifically, it is a singular case study. The collected data include the creation of specific didactic material, the organization of a financial aid campaign for their country of origin, the implementation of medical offices for specific needs, among other devices. The conclusion points out a strong institutional commitment in the sense of the promotion of the intercultural communicative competence among the participants. Besides meeting the functional goal of facilitating the sociocultural integration of the Haitian students, the achievements benefit the intercultural development of the host community.