Cross-Cultural Competence of Students from Selected European Union Countries (Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy).

The changes taking place in the contemporary labour market were the fac­tor that prompted our project. The employee’s position on this market does not depend only on his specialist knowledge and professional qualifications. This is particularly important in a multicultural environment, in which even linguistic competences are losing their significance because – without the ability to adapt to new cultural conditions – they do not play a major role. Cultural diversity becomes a source of competitive advantage at the moment when a company adopts appropriate strategies and techniques, which is the task faced by, among others, modern managers. The aim of the project is to explore the role of cross-cultural competence as an important element of uni­versity education from the point of view of both: educational programmes and the labour market. It is now believed that cross-cultural competence, under­stood as an attitude towards cooperation with representatives of other cultures, is a very important element of university education in the process of prepar­ing students to successfully function on the global labour market. The level of interpersonal skills of individual members of a multicultural team (espe­cially the level of their cultural intelligence) which enables them to effectively cooperate with representatives of other cultures is one of the main elements of cross-cultural competence. On the basis of the results of the study, the theo­ries of management science will be elaborated on, taking into account interna­tional realities and emphasising the importance of cross-cultural competence on the labour market. The results of the project will support the development of management science, especially in the field of intercultural management, by indicating how existing management theories are based on and benefit from practice, and how they are interpreted in management practice. Thanks to the study, both theoreticians and practitioners of management will be able to obtain more knowledge about cross-cultural competence.