XPA
You must be logged in to view this content.
For Instructors
7 Good Reasons to Join X-Culture:
- Enhance student learning
Our research shows X-Culture improves cultural intelligence, international and virtual collaboration competencies, problem-solving skills, and interest in cross-cultural interactions. - Improve your teaching evaluations
Students recognize the value of X-Culture. We see a significant improvement in teaching evaluations on every dimension in treatment (X-Culture) vs. control (no X-Culture) condition. - Research and publish
X-Culture is a great research platform that provides high-quality multi-source multi-level longitudinal data. - Expand your professional network
Hundreds of established and rising-star International Business scholars and educators, as well as business professionals on the X-Culture team. - Documented proof of your achievement
Instructors whose students successfully complete the project receive X-Culture Global Educator certificates and support letters sent to the Deans/Department Heads (if requested). You do a great job; we make sure the world knows about it. - X-Culture certificates for your students
Students who successfully complete the project receive a Global Collaboration certificate, which tends to help when applying for a job or promotion! - Change the face of International Business education
Learning about International Business in the classroom is like learning to swim on a football field. The X-Culture team is developing new teaching methods for the new today. New global collaboration and education tools are introduced every day and we are putting them to good use in the classroom and workplace.
How X-Culture Works
Step-by-Step
In very simple terms:
- You send us the names of your students.
- We put them on global virtual teams, each of about 6 students, each from a different country.
- Real businesses submit real international business challenges, and the students spend the semester working on those challenges.
- We collect detailed performance data (peer evals, quality of their work) and you receive weekly progress and performance review on each of your students.
- In the end, the students receive X-Culture Certificates, and many even get job offers from our partner companies.
- We bring our best students for a face-to-face meeting at the X-Culture Symposium.
- We also use the data for research and publishing.
More Details
- X-Culture runs every semester. Each season has an “early” and a “late” track to accommodate academic calendar differences at different schools.
- Two months before the season starts, X-Culture sends out a call for participants. Instructors interested in making X-Culture part of their IB course apply online.
- Within a few days after applying, instructors receive a decision on their application. X-Culture is open to all qualified instructors/students, but the enrollment is competitive and not all applications are approved.
- Successful applicants receive all materials several weeks prior to the start of the X-Culture project, including instructions and guidelines for students and instructors, training materials and other information.
- Before the project start, instructors and students are required to review X-Culture training materials and take a readiness test. The test ensures that all participants are sufficiently familiar with how X-Culture works, the task the teams will be working on, deadlines, available communication tools, and other project-related issues. Most students pass the test, but a few fail and are asked to review the training materials more carefully and retake the test.
- Students who successfully pass the readiness test are randomly assigned to global virtual teams (typically 7 students, all from different countries) and receive personal emails on the first day of the project with the names and contacts of their team members.
- Students work in global virtual teams over a 2-month period. During this time, they have to meet weekly deadlines. Three days before each deadline, each student receives a personal email with a deadline reminder and a personalized link to an online progress report form. The information is aggregated and the instructors receive detailed weekly reports on the performance of each of their students. The students also receive weekly feedback, suggestions, and updates on how their teams are doing compared to other teams.
- Although most of the coordination, communication, and performance monitoring are managed centrally by X-Culture, instructors regularly communicate with their students and provide coaching and guidance. Instructors normally devote at least a few minutes each lecture to discuss student progress, address concerns, and answer questions.
- At the end of the project, student teams submit their international business proposals via Turnitin, an online platform that checks submissions for plagiarism. The students also complete an online post-project survey that include-peer evaluations.
- Once received, the team reports are evaluated by the instructors using standardized rubrics. Normally, each instructor evaluates the reports from the teams that had his/her students in them. Since every student is on a different team, this means that normally instructors have to evaluate as many reports as there are students in his/her course and that each student report is independently evaluated by seven instructors.
- The instructor evaluations of the team reports are then aggregated and used to select the best student teams.
- All students receive X-Culture Global Collaboration Experience Certificates and the members of the best teams receive Best Team awards ($1,000 per team, contingent upon funding availability).
- During the project, instructors receive rich multi-source longitudinal data on the performance of their students, including performance on the pre-project readiness test, ability to meet weekly deadlines, brief weekly and detailed post-project peer evaluations, and multi-dimensional evaluation of the quality of the team reports. Instructors are free to use this information as they see fit for determining their students’ course grades/marks.
- At the end of each X-Culture season, instructors and students are invited to the X-Culture Symposium (e.g., the most recent X-Culture Symposium hosted by Mercedes-Benz). Subject to funding availability, members of the best student teams may receive travel stipends to attend the meeting.
- The data collected by X-Culture are used to study global virtual teams, international collaboration, experiential learning, and related issues. Instructors have the opportunity to get involved as research collaborators and co-authors of the resulting scholarly publications.
As a result, instructors:
- Provide a unique experiential learning opportunity for their students;
- Improve their course evaluations;
- Become part of a large international academic and research team;
- Expand their personal and professional network;
- Get to co-author scholarly articles and present their work at international conferences;
- Make a meaningful contribution as educators and researchers, thereby making the world a better place.
- Receive a certificate and, if requested, a support letter to the Dean/Dept. Head commenting on the instructor’s contribution and achievement.
What to Expect:
- Profit-free, but not a free ride: X-Culture is a not-for-profit project … but it’s not a free ride. The project runs on the effort and time of our team members – your time and effort. You probably won’t have to spend much more time than what you spend on “domestic” team projects in your courses, but the quality and reliability demands of X-Culture are much higher. Skipping your chores is not an option – too many people depend on you. So get ready to get busy.
- Doing more with less: X-Culture is loved and praised by the academic and business communities, but we are yet to raise any noticeable funds. To remain effective with limited resources, we rely on efficiency. Much thought is put into optimizing interactions, coordination, and information management within our Team to reduce the transaction cost – and it works! That means, get ready for very detailed and demanding guidelines for most of your steps. All participants must submit the requested materials on time, using the right templates, and always read the instructions first. Every time you slack or don’t follow the template, somebody has to fix it, and we don’t have that somebody to fix it for you.
- Evolving and deliberately loose rules: Most of the time though our rules are deliberately loose. What we do is very new and we simply don’t know the best way to do it yet. Therefore, we keep our policies flexible and minds open. If you see a better way to do things, share your insights. X-Culture is very much a work in progress and we could use good advice.
- Collegiality is the key: Collaboration and interdependency, limited resources, and changing environment – add to that dozens of papers in development that can make or break somebody’s career and you got yourself into a high-stakes game with a lot to lose and gain. Collegiality is how we keep it conflict-free, fair, and enjoyable for everyone.
- Frustrating at times, always rewarding in the end: And no matter how well it goes, there will be times when you will be overwhelmed and frustrated; there will be times when you may regret you got involved. But somehow, in the end, you will be happy you did.
Participation Fee
X-Culture is a not-for-profit project.
We charge only a participation fee to cover our basic administrative expenses.
University
Sponsor University
Students
$250 per university, up to 50 students ($350 if more than 50 students)
- If the professor/university cannot pay the full fee, the professor can apply for a partial or full participation fee waiver (pay only $100 or $0).
- The waivers are available for professors/universities from “developing” countries, professors who receive no support from their universities, and must pay using their own funds, or from countries where banking regulations do not permit payments overseas.
up to $1,000
- If your university can support X-Culture at a higher level, we welcome sponsorship of up to $1,000 per university per semester.
- In exchange, we will fully acknowledge the sponsoring institution, share information about the university programs on the X-Culture website, and assign a teaching assignment to the professor to help with evaluating reports and managing the class otherwise.
$15 per student
- Starting this semester, professors can choose to assign the payment to their students.
- In this case, instead of the university/professor paying $250 for the entire class, each student pays $15 directly to X-Culture.
Now accepting applications for
2024-1a
January 22 – March 10, 2024
Application deadline:
January 10
2024-1b
March 4 – April 28, 2024
Application deadline:
February 25
2024-2a
August 26 – October 13, 2024
Application deadline:
August 25, 2024
2024-2b
October 1 – November 17, 2024
Application deadline:
September 23, 2024
For Students
Types of X-Culture Trainees
Affiliated Students
Most X-Culture trainees are students who take a course at their university where X-Culture is a required or optional part of the course. These trainees do not need to submit individual X-Culture applications and pay the participation fee – the application and the participation fee will be covered by their course instructor.
Unaffiliated Professionals
A sizable portion of X-Culture trainees are professionals seeking to gain international collaboration and consulting skills and obtain the X-Culture Global Collaboration Certificate. Trainees of this type are usually employed professionals. However, some are students at universities that do not offer X-Culture training. Unaffiliated professionals need to submit their individual applications directly to X-Culture.
How it works
- Once you enroll in the X-Culture Training, you will receive all X-Culture training materials and program instructions.
- You will be required to review the materials and complete the X-Culture Readiness test. Only students who successfully pass the Readiness Test will be allowed to participate in the project.
- After you pass the Readiness Test, you will be placed on a global virtual team. Typically, the teams are comprised of 6-8 trainees, each coming from a different country.
- The teams will be presented with an international business challenge and have about two months to develop a solution.
- There will be weekly deadlines that the teams have to meet. Each team member will receive a personal email with a link to the weekly progress update survey and will have to report if the team has completed that week’s task.
- At the end of the project, the teams will present their challenge solutions in a form of team reports. The reports will be evaluated by 6-7 independent experts.
- Based on the expert evaluations, best teams will be awarded the X-Culture Best Team Awards.
- Additionally, individual performance records and peer evaluations will be used to select each season’s Best Student Award recipients.
Exercise, not test
And remember, X-Culture is designed to be an exercise, not a test. This is how you learn through experience, not how we test your knowledge. This means, that our primary concern is your participation and effort - you show a great involvement and effort and your grade/mark will be high even if your group fails to develop an outstanding business proposal. But if you know all the answers but don’t actively participate, don’t count on a good grade.
X-Culture Symposium
At the end of each X-Culture season, we invite best students to attend an X-Culture Symposium. It provides students a great opportunity to meet in person other X-Culture participants, exchange ideas, expand professional and personal network. Best Student Award recipients are eligible for the X-Culture Travel Stipends.
See the X-Culture Symposium page for more details
Global Collaboration Certificate
We’ve heard countless stories of how X-Culture certificates helped our students get jobs, promotions and get into International Business graduate programs. When the workplace goes global, a certificate of experience in global collaboration can make a difference.
What’s next
Once X-Culture, always X-Culture. We encourage you to stay in touch after you complete the project. With thousands of X-Culture alumni worldwide, being a part of the “club” is a huge asset. And keep handy that X-Culture certificate - it helped quite a few people getting that dream job. Documented international collaboration skills and experience do matter when you’re on a job hunt.
X-Culture Academy
Main idea
- We place students in international virtual teams with peers from around the world: 7 students per team, each in a different country.
- They solve real-life problems presented by real-life companies.
- In the process, they learn about other countries and cultures, learn how to collaborate online, work as a team, and solve business challenges.
What is X-Culture?
X-Culture is a very successful global phenomenon that has become an institution in International Business education.
Every semester, thousands of MBA and college students from hundreds of universities around the world take part in X-Culture. As of 2017, over 40,000 students have participated in X-Culture, and about 5,000 more are added every semester.
Following the popularity of the project with universities, we have been receiving requests to create a “kids” version of X-Culture.
Younger children are fully capable and could greatly benefit from interacting with their peers around the world.
As a beta-test, we are launching a “Kids” track (ages 8-12) and a “Teens” track (ages 13-17).
It will be exactly the same program as the university students take part in, just with a set of challenges simplified to be age appropriate for younger participants. The kids/teens will also receive some additional pre-project training to ensure they are fully prepared for the experience.
The kids and teens will also work in global virtual teams with their peers, develop their solutions to real-life problems presented by real companies, meet the company CEOs in live webinars, write and present their reports, and receive X-Culture Global Business Collaboration Certificates.
For the 2018-1 round, our clients are companies like Innospark (educational toys) and Me Late Chocolate (chocolate) to make sure the products are familiar and interesting for the younger X-Culture participants.
Benefits for Trainees
- International experience
Complete a project in a team where each team member is from a different country. - Business experience
Solve a real business challenge for a real client company. - New knowledge and skills
Training in cross-cultural communication, online collaboration tools, international business, business writing and presentation, and more. - Personal and professional network
Friends around the world, contacts at many universities and several companies. - Cultural intelligence
A documented significant improvement in cultural intelligence from before to after the project. - X-Culture Certificate and Recommendation Letter
You learn and grow. We provide a documented proof. - Stronger resume and improved chances of a new start
X-Culture experience makes you a much stronger applicant for a stipend or job.
Benefits for Teachers
- Enhanced student learning
Compared to control groups (no X-Culture), students in courses with X-Culture do better on exams. - Improved teaching evaluations
Compared to control groups, students who have X-Culture give their teachers higher evaluations. - Research and publications
X-Culture is a great research platform that provides high-quality multi-source multi-level longitudinal data. If you are interested in scholarly work, X-Culture will provide you the necessary data. - Professional network
Meet the hundreds of educators and business professionals on the X-Culture team. - Documented proof of your achievement:
X-Culture Global Educator Certificate and support letters sent to your principal or department head. You do a great job; we make sure the world knows about it. - X-Culture certificates for your students
Students get X-Culture International Business certificates, which help with college and job applications. - Help us make education more interactive and experiential
The workplace is becoming global. Learning how to work across cultures in a classroom is like learning to swim on a football field. X-Culture is developing new teaching methods for the new today – and you can be part of our team.
How It Works
Main idea
- The students work in international teams with peers from around the world.
- They solve real-life problems presented by real-life companies.
- In the process, they learn about other countries and cultures, learn how to collaborate online and work as a team.
Step-by-step
- Students are enrolled by their teachers (entire class) or parents (one child).
- We provide them with age-appropriate training on online collaboration tools, teamwork, problem solving, and report writing.
- We put them on global virtual teams.
- Real businesses submit real business challenges and the students try to solve them.
- We monitor student performance and send you weekly performance review on each of your students.
- The international teams prepare their reports and present them to our partner companies.
- The students receive X-Culture Global Collaboration Certificates.
- The teachers receive X-Culture Global Educator Certificates.
- The best students are invited to the X-Culture Symposium.
- The data are used for research and publishing – and you are welcome to join as a co-author.
Program Design
Pre-Project Training (4 weeks)
A series of training modules, such as:
- The X-Culture Project: Purpose, History, Method, Vision
- Online Collaboration Tools (Skype, Doodle, Dropbox, Google Docs, WhatsApp, Slack, Trello, BaseCamp, etc.)
- Cross-cultural communication
- How to be an effective global virtual team
- Effective presentation: The art of writing business proposals
- Plagiarism and academic referencing
- The basics of International Business
Practical Training (8 weeks)
The students work in global virtual teams:
- As the students are completing the project, they experience the challenges and learn best practices of working in teams, communicating online, dealing with time-zones, cultural differences, and more
- Students have live webinars with the CEOs of their client organizations, submit weekly deliverables, receive feedback, and make friends
- The teams submit their final business proposals
Post-Project Reflections (4 weeks)
After the reports are submitted:
- Students present their work in-class and/or in a live online teleconference
- Students write reflection papers where they reflect on their experiences
Post-Project Awards and Documentation
After the project is over, the students and instructors receive:
- X-Culture International Business Certificates (students)
- X-Culture Global Educator Certificates (teachers)
- Best Team awards
- Best Teacher awards
- The best students and instructors are invited to the X-Culture Symposium
Dates for the 2018-1 Round
January 29-May 28
- Pre-Project Training: January 29-March 4
- Practical Training (8 weeks): March 5-April 29
- Post-Project Reflections (4 weeks): April 30-May 28
Certificates and Recommendation Letters
Contingent upon a successful completion of the project, all X-Culture participants will receive the following certification and supporting materials:
Students
1. X-Culture International Business Certificate.
2. Recommendation letter describing the project, experiences and skills acquired by the students and the recommendation of the students for future projects or jobs that require teamwork, international collaboration, analytics, decision making, and leadership competencies.
Teachers
1. X-Culture Global Business Educator Certificate.
2. Recommendation letter describing the project, experiences and skills displayed by the teacher, and a recommendation of the teacher for other projects that require leadership and competencies to manage team-based international educational projects.
3. Appreciation letter sent to the school principal or dean commenting on the effects on the student learning, personal and professional growth, and the teacher’s contribution to the success of the project.
Awards
Additionally, Best Students and Best Teachers will we rewarded with an invitation to the X-Culture Global Symposium (upcoming: Bogota, Colombia July 2018, Nashville, USA November 2018, Stuttgart, Germany, July 2019).
Cultural Intelligence Test
All students will be given a Cultural Intelligence test before the project start and after the project is completed.
Each student will receive a detailed personal Cultural Intelligence report, that includes personal results, debriefing, and personalized recommendations for further improvement of cultural intelligence.
The $45 test fee will be waived for the X-Culture participants.
Pricing
- One child/teen: $195
- One class of 10 or more supervised by a teacher where X-Culture is part of the course: $275.
X-Culture Stipends are available for students from “developing” countries (GPD/capital less than $15,00) and low-income families.
The stipends are competitive and are contingent upon the student’s ability to score in top 25% on the X-Culture Selection Test.
The application for the X-Culture Stipend is included in the general application.
- Participation stipend for a qualifying child: $150 (participation fee $45)
- Participation grant for a class of 10 or more: $150 (participation fee $125)
A full training fee waiver may be offered in exceptional circumstances to teachers who are willing to contribute up to 5 hours per week during an 8-week period to help with project administration.
For Professionals
What Is X-Culture?
- We place trainees in international virtual teams with peers from around the world: 7 people per team, each in a different country.
- They solve real-life problems presented by real-life companies.
- In the process, they learn about other countries and cultures, learn how to collaborate online, work as a team, and solve business challenges.
- Every semester, about 5,000 people from over 40 countries take part in X-Culture. As of 2017, over 40,000 students have participated in X-Culture, and about 5,000 more are added every semester.
- Most participants are MBA students from over 150 universities. However, the project is also open to non-student professionals who seek to learn new skills, expand their professional network, and improve their resume.
7 Benefits
- International experience
Complete a project in a team where each team member is from a different country. - Business consulting experience
Solve a real business challenge for a real client company. - Expand professional network
Meet company CEOs, university professors, and professional peers from around the world - New knowledge and skills
Training in cross-cultural communication, online collaboration tools, international business, business writing and presentation, and more. - Cultural intelligence
A documented significant improvement in cultural intelligence from before to after the project. - X-Culture Certificate and Recommendation Letter
You learn and grow. We provide a documented proof. - Stronger resume and improved chances of a new starts
X-Culture experience makes you a much stronger applicant for a stipend or job.
Bonus: Best students are invited to the X-Culture Global Symposium where they meet their team members in person; plus a series of career development workshops and meetings with successful entrepreneurs, politicians, and community leaders.
Bonus: Occasionally, trainees do such a good job that their impressed clients offer jobs or internship positions.
Program Design
Theoretical Training (4 weeks)
- Cross-cultural communication.
- Problem solving in teams.
- Team leadership.
- Online collaboration tools.
- The art of writing winning business proposals.
- Plagiarism and academic referencing.
- The basics of International Business.
Practical Training (8 weeks)
- The trainees are placed in international teams.
- 6 people per team, each in a different country.
- Real companies present real international business challenges.
- Real time zones, real cultural differences.
- All communication online and in English.
- Live webinars with the client CEOs.
Post-Project Reflections (4 weeks)
- Trainees present their work at an online teleconference.
- Trainees receive X-Culture International Business Certificates and Recommendation letters.
- Best students are invited to the X-Culture Symposium.
Quick Facts
- X-Culture launched: 2010
- Number of students per session: 5,000
- Number of universities per session: 130
- Number of countries by student residence: 40
- Number of countries by student nationality: 75
- Total number of X-Culture graduates since 2010: 41,200
- Total number of universities since 2010: 271
- Total number of university professors since 2010: 508
- Notable clients: Mercedes-Benz, Louis Vuitton, Home Depot, Hard Rock International, JCB
- Number of clients per session: 5-10
- Open for non-student adults: 2015
- Open for pre-college youths: 2018
Timing
- 2019-3: August 26 – December 20, 2019
Application deadline: August 15 - 2020-1: January 20 – June 1, 2020
Application deadline: January 10 - 2020-2: August 24 – December 18, 2020
Application deadline: August 15
Testimonials
- It was an eye-opener! I learned a lot about other cultures and business and enjoyed the experience!
Ninette, Spain - It a was a challenge to work with students from different countries. But it was a great opportunity to learn how to deal with different cultures.
Visar, India - I really feel I learned a lot about working with people from other countries. I am now closer to my dream of getting a job in a global company.
Shu, China - I was in a job interview and it was going nowhere. Then I mentioned my X-Culture experience and the interviewer’s eye lit up.
I got the job.
Matthew, USA - I was applying to universities in the U.S. and my X-Culture experience helped set me apart from other applicants. Nobody had such experience. I really think it helped me get the stipend.
Guilia, Italy - It has been two years since I participated in X-Culture. It was hard to work with people from different countries. Looking back though, it was the best training for my career.
Sofia, Canada
Participation Fee
$195 per individual participant for the complete 4-months course
X-Culture Academy Stipends
- We believe that everyone should be able to receive X-Culture training, regardless of financial standing. Therefore, low-income applicants can apply for the X-Culture Academy Stipend.
- The participation stipend is $150.
- Stipend will be applied directly to the participation fee. Thus, the stipend recipients will pay only $45 for the entire program.
- The number of the X-Culture Academy Stipends is limited.
The stipends are generally reserved for participants from low-income families (combined family income < $10,000 per year) or other special-needs applicants and are contingent upon the applicant’s excellent performance on the Theory test.
For Businesses
6000
MBA & business students150
Universities40
Countries6
Continents5 Reasons to Partner with X-Culture
- Receive creative ideas
Got a business challenge?
Thousands of MBA and business students from around the world will offer you their solutions.
Tomorrow, they’ll graduate and command hefty salaries. Today, they’ll work for you as part of their coursework. - Enter new markets
Ready to expand into new markets?
X-Culture participants come from 40+ countries.
They will find the most promising markets for your product, develop your market entry strategy,
and help you find local partners and retailers. - Promote your products
Promote your products among hundreds of International Business professors and thousands of business students who could be your clients or partners tomorrow. - Recruit talent
Thousands of students from some of the world’s best universities take part in X-Culture every semester.
We continuously track their performance: from teamwork and leadership skills, to creativity and diligence.
You need the best?
We identify the best, based on objective performance data no job interview or resume can ever provide. - Train employees
Do your employees have to interact internationally?
We can help with training in international teamwork, virtual collaboration tools, and dealing with cultural and time-zone differences.
How X-Culture Works
A small step for you. A giant leap for your business.
Level 1
Crowd-sourcing
- You contact us to tell us about your business. We tell you about X-Culture.
- If we can help, you become an X-Culture partner.
- When the project starts, we organize one-hour live webinars where you introduce your company and explain what you want our students to work on.
- Thousands of our students around the world help your business grow:
they share their creative ideas for your marketing and product design,
do market research, interview potential customers,
reach out to local distributors and try to get you contracts in their markets,
and much more.
Level 2
Expert Reinforcement (Optional)
- The teams that authored the best ideas collaborate with business professors and experienced consultants.
- They further develop the ideas and prepare a professional report, strategy, product design, or other requested deliverables.
Level 3
Implementation (Optional)
- We further strengthen the team with subject experts.
- They implement the solution and help you take your company to the next level.
Sample Challenges
Over the years, we served more than a hundred companies around the world.
Here are a few examples:
- Mercedes-Benz: How do we design a truck for developing countries?
- Home Depot: How do we improve our .com services?
- Louis Vuitton: Where should we open our next store and what store design would be most appealing to the customers there?
- Caffè Vergnano: How to build a global coffee house network?
- Polaris Industries: How to grow the sales of snowmobiles in Asia?
- Hard Rock International: How do we make our restaurants, hotels and casinos more appealing to young people?
We particularly like working with medium and small businesses, companies that already operate in one country and are ready to expand into new markets but need help with market research, market expansion strategy, and business leads.
Suggested Pricing
Hiring a class of business students to work on your project is not cheap.
Most business schools charge $5,000 to $30,000 for a class of MBA students of up to 100 people.
It makes sense: once these people get their BS and MBA degrees, they will cost a lot more to hire.
X-Culture offers a number of advantages over a regular class of students:
- Thousands (not dozens or hundreds) bright young professionals
- A highly diverse crowd to ensure a greater variety of ideas
- A geographically dispersed crowd to ensure access to local knowledge anywhere on the planet
Suggested pricing for one semester of Level 1 partnership:
- Large company: $25,000
- Medium company: $15,000
- Small company: $6,000
- Startup: $3,000
The partnership fee can be reduced for companies from developing countries or companies with a, particularly interesting challenge.
Level 2 and Level 3 partnership fees are set individually depending on the complexity of the case.
More information on the advantages of crowdsourcing over professional consulting >>
For Researchers
X-Culture was originally envisioned as a purely educational project. Preparing students for global careers and effective performance in the multi-culture workplace remains our main purpose.
However, X-Culture has also emerged as a unique and versatile research platform.
We primarily focus on exploring the nature and challenges of cross-cultural collaboration, as well as studying the processes and performance in global virtual teams.
What helps and what hurts international workgroup dynamics? Why? What can be done to improve performance in the global workplace?
Furthermore, we research the effects and effectiveness of experiential learning in general, and in International Business education in particular.
We are also experimenting with different crowdsourcing models hoping to develop one that will do to the business consulting industry what Wikipedia did to the encyclopedia industry.
The research results are shared with our students to further inform them about the nature, challenges and best practices of global virtual collaboration.
Our research questions are not limited to the field of International Business. The data we are collecting is suitable for addressing research questions in the fields of Management, Psychology, Marketing, Economics, Sociology, and other disciplines.
The X-Culture research initiatives have been approved by the Institutional Review Board (approvals independently received at multiple universities).
For more information:
- Data Codebook: detailed information on variables, item wording, and more, etc.
- Research Collaboration Principles: policies on data sharing, co-authorship, etc.
- Publications: Publications and presentations based on X-Culture data.
- Ongoing Research Projects: studies currently in works
- Join X-Culture Research Team: get involves as an instructor, request existing data, request new data collection.
Support X-Culture
Promote your company among X-
- 6,000 students from 150 universities in 40 countries on 6 continents every semester
- 65,000 alumni network
- 500 International Business researchers and educators
- Dozens corporate partners, including some of the world’s most successful companies
Sponsorship Levels
| Bronze $1,000 | Silver $5,000 | Gold $10,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor's logo on X-Culture website with a link to sponsor's page, newsletter, and correspondence signature | |||
| Free X-Culture Certificates (print/shipping) and full participation fee waiver for students/employees from the sponsoring university/company | |||
| Best Team Award named after the sponsor with 3x$1,000 going to three best teams as cash prizes | |||
| Submit for free one real-life business challenges for the X-Culture competition ($4,000 average company fee). |
X-Culture Sponsor Universities for 2021
Coaching Program
The X-Culture Certified Global Virtual Team Coaching Program
Coaching Program 2025-1: January 25 – May 17, 2025
Application deadline: January 15, 2025
Notification of Acceptance Status: January 18, 2025
Orientation meeting: January 25, 2025 -@ 11:00 AM EST/NYC
Program Acceptance Fee Payment Deadline: Feburary 1. 2025
The best X-Culture students become coaches and mentors to the new generation of X-Culture students.
These Coaches acquire skills and unique experiences that employers value in today’s business world.
The purpose of the X-Culture Global Virtual Team Coaching Program is to help the Coaches:
- Strengthen their theoretical knowledge and understanding of the principles and best practices of guiding global virtual teams
- Gain practical experience in coaching, mentoring, and managing global virtual consulting teams
Meet our past coaches:
Coaches who successfully complete the program can put on their resume the following achievements, skills, and experiences:
- Completed a series of training modules on understanding and managing people in global virtual teams and international business principles and theories
- Served as a coach, mentor, and counsel to global virtual teams completing a complex international business consulting project
- Developed training materials and live training webinars for a global audience
- Investigated and facilitated the resolution of cross-cultural conflicts and misunderstandings
- Evaluated individual and team performance
- Provided regular constructive and developmental feedback to individuals and teams and helped them improve their work
- Helped members of the globally-dispersed teams coordinate their efforts
- Reviewed and analyzed a large number of business proposals and prepared executive analytic summaries for the top managers
- Actively participated in weekly experience exchange conferences with other coaches, shared personal observations, heard about the challenges experienced by other coaches, brainstormed the best solutions, and provided and received feedback and suggestions
- Invited to review business proposals and select winners of a large-scale consulting competition
- Addressed concerns and responded to questions from members of global virtual teams
- Conducted independent research on international business and global virtual teams and wrote an analytic paper and guide for managers, team members, and educators (optional Pet/Special project)
- Provided suggestions for training program design and management of large-scale consulting projects
- Completed all of this in a highly complex culturally diverse and technology-intensive environment, working alongside people from 20+ different countries
Certificates and Recommendation Letters: Upon successful completion, graduates receive official X-Culture Certified Global Virtual Team Coaching Program certificates and recommendation letters.
Phase 1: Theoretical Training Activities and Topics (4 weeks)
Week 1: X-Culture
Module 1 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 1. The X-Culture Project: Purpose, History, Method, Vision
- Chapter 2. The X-Culture Coaching Program: Purpose, History, Method, Vision
Week 2: Anatomy of GVTs
Module 2 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 3. Known GVT Problems and Best Practices
- Chapter 4. Managing GVTs
- Chapter 5. Free-Riding in GVTs
- Chapter 6. Principles of crowdsourcing and global virtual collaboration
Week 3: Managing and Coaching GVTs
Module 3 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 7. The Art of Effective Feedback
- Chapter 8. Team Counseling
- Chapter 9. Managing Conflict in Project Teams
- Chapter 10: Organizing and leading webinars and discussion groups
Week 4: Technologies and Knowledge for GVT-Based IB Consulting
Module 4 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 11. Online Collaboration Tools
- Chapter 12. Academic Referencing Styles
- Chapter 13. Plagiarism
- Chapter 14: The Basics of International Business
Applicants who successfully pass the Theoretical Phase will earn the opportunity to participate in Phase 2, the Practical Phase.
Phase 2: Practical Training Activities (remaining weeks)
- Coaching global virtual teams what are participating in the X-Culture project
- Completing a Portfolio that summarizes their experiences
- Resume and Interviewing workshop and feedback opportunity
- Organizing and leading a live instructional webinar
- Facilitating and participating in quality improvement discussion groups
- Participating in weekly experience-exchange online conferences with other Coaching Program trainees
- Select coaches prepare analytic executive summaries for corporate clients
- Select coaches serve as a judge of work of others, including being a member of the Award Committee that selects the X-Culture Competition winners
- Select coaches develop training materials
- Other professional development and online community activities through the program
“If you are thinking about applying for this program I highly recommend it. It will be challenging, but you will grow professionally and as a person. It is really useful for gaining real world experience.” – Andrea, Italy
Eligibility
The number of Coaches in the X-Culture Coaching Program is typically limited typically to 50 per semester.
- Preference is given to the X-Culture Alumni who had the high scores on peer evaluations (4.0 and higher), whose teams wrote strong reports (4.5 and higher), as well as those who provided the most insightful and thoughtful comments in weekly surveys, and shared most original ideas and suggestions in the post-project survey.
- We are particularly looking for the most motivated people, those who are eager to learn while helping the new generation of X-Culture students to succeed.
- Coaches who successfully complete Phase 1 (pass the theoretical exam) are allowed to advance to Phase 2.
- Coaches that earn 80% on the four assessments and meet the required tasks will receive a certificate and a personalized letter of completion.
- Participants that complete the 4 modules successfully, plus the coaching assessment, will be able to coach global virtual university participants that request support.
- The acceptance fee is non-refundable, yet those that do not complete may still utilize the training materials for their professional development.
“The coaching program offers a unique opportunity to work with students and professionals in a global virtual team. I personally admired the supportive and engaging learning environment which encouraged growth, creativity, and innovation. Participating in this program is a challenging- but incredibly rewarding experience to anyone interested in learning and helping other students succeed.” -Ernest, Ghana
Estimated Time Requirements
The program is very demanding and time-consuming.
Phase 1: Theory
- Review training materials: approximately 1-2 hours per module, 5-10 hours per week
- Weekly Theory exams: approximately 30-60 min per test
Total per week: 5-10 hours
Phase 2: Practice
- Addressing team questions, concerns, providing help: approximately 2-3 hours per week
- Weekly assignments and providing feedback and suggestions: approximately 3-7 hours per week
- Team webinars and training material creation
- Additional research and optional program modules: as desired
- Portfolio creation: approximately 5-10 hours total
Total per week: 5-20 hours
Total time investment over the 16 weeks: 60-120 hours.
X-Culture Coaching Program Tuition
Program Fee
- The full program fee is $775.
- Recipients of Coaching Program Tuition Reduction Award pay $275 USD total.
- Recipients of the Administrative Assistantship Program Tuition Reduction Award pay $75 USD total, with a commitment to serve the program an additional 5-hours per week.
X-Culture Coaching Program Tuition Reduction Award
Applicants meeting one or more of the following criterion will qualify for a $500 tuition reduction (paying $275 total for the entire program):
- Applicants whose peer evaluations in X-Culture were 4.0 or higher
- Applicants who were members of the winning teams
- Applicants who have attended one or more past live X-Culture events such as Symposiums or X-Culture Global Business Week
- Citizens and permanent residents of countries with GPD/capita less $15,000 as per the World Bank 2019 statistics
Administrative Assistantship Tuition Reduction Award
Applicants meeting the following criteria will be eligible for a $700 reduction in program tuition (paying $75 total for the entire program):
- Providing a sincere commitment to 5-additional hours of work per week (administrative help with the X-Culture Project).
- Duties will include a weekly assignment as distributed by the Administrative Assistantship Program Director. Typically these duties relate to review of past client reports, providing structured reports, coding data as directed, providing analytical reports, and other X-Culture documentation tasks.
- Must be a good manager of their own time and a strong communicator.
- Must be able to check and respond to email from the Administrative Assistantship Program Director throughout the week.
- These duties are in addition to the weekly coaching program assignments.
“It’s one of my best decisions that I applied to the Coaching Program and the Administrative Assistantship Program. It improves many kinds of professional skills that can be used in the future, develops English language skills, and you can make friends too.”
-Szonja, Hungary
To apply for either of these tuition reduction awards, please complete the details in the application form.
Returning Coaches, Tuition 100% Waived
- For coaches that are returning after completing one semester as a coach, the fee is always waived upon application approval.
“Having been a coach 3 times now, X-Culture has proven to be very beneficial to me in a variety of ways. My time as a coach has given me a lot of knowledge and abilities. My leadership abilities, teamwork abilities, and theoretical understanding of international business and global virtual teams have all improved. It has given me the opportunity to expand my professional network, and working with coaches from all around the world has been such a privilege. Coaches and students can benefit from X-Culture, especially if you’re considering a career in international business. You will undoubtedly stand out as a unique individual to employers thanks to the skills, experience, and knowledge you have earned.” – Motheo, Botswana
Application Details
You will be asked to:
- Upload your Resume
- Provide essay answers (this will have a large impact on your application)
- Recall your past experience with X-Culture
- Please be prepared to spend 30-60 minutes completing the application
The X-Culture Certified Global Virtual Team Coaching Program
Coaching Program 2025-1:
January 25 – May 17, 2025
Application deadline: January 15, 2025
Notification of Acceptance Status: January 18, 2025
Orientation meeting: January 25, 2025 -@ 11:00 AM EST/NYC
Program Acceptance Fee Payment Deadline: Feburary 1. 2025
The best X-Culture students become coaches and mentors to the new generation of X-Culture students.
These Coaches acquire skills and unique experiences that employers value in today’s business world.
The purpose of the X-Culture Global Virtual Team Coaching Program is to help the Coaches:
- Strengthen their theoretical knowledge and understanding of the principles and best practices of guiding global virtual teams
- Gain practical experience in coaching, mentoring, and managing global virtual consulting teams
Meet our past coaches:
Coaches who successfully complete the program can put on their resume the following achievements, skills, and experiences:
- Completed a series of training modules on understanding and managing people in global virtual teams and international business principles and theories
- Served as a coach, mentor, and counsel to global virtual teams completing a complex international business consulting project
- Developed training materials and live training webinars for a global audience
- Investigated and facilitated the resolution of cross-cultural conflicts and misunderstandings
- Evaluated individual and team performance
- Provided regular constructive and developmental feedback to individuals and teams and helped them improve their work
- Helped members of the globally-dispersed teams coordinate their efforts
- Reviewed and analyzed a large number of business proposals and prepared executive analytic summaries for the top managers
- Actively participated in weekly experience exchange conferences with other coaches, shared personal observations, heard about the challenges experienced by other coaches, brainstormed the best solutions, and provided and received feedback and suggestions
- Invited to review business proposals and select winners of a large-scale consulting competition
- Addressed concerns and responded to questions from members of global virtual teams
- Conducted independent research on international business and global virtual teams and wrote an analytic paper and guide for managers, team members, and educators (optional Pet/Special project)
- Provided suggestions for training program design and management of large-scale consulting projects
- Completed all of this in a highly complex culturally diverse and technology-intensive environment, working alongside people from 20+ different countries
Certificates and Recommendation Letters: Upon successful completion, graduates receive official X-Culture Certified Global Virtual Team Coaching Program certificates and recommendation letters.
Phase 1: Theoretical Training Activities and Topics (4 weeks)
Week 1: X-Culture
Module 1 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 1. The X-Culture Project: Purpose, History, Method, Vision
- Chapter 2. The X-Culture Coaching Program: Purpose, History, Method, Vision
Week 2: Anatomy of GVTs
Module 2 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 3. Known GVT Problems and Best Practices
- Chapter 4. Managing GVTs
- Chapter 5. Free-Riding in GVTs
- Chapter 6. Principles of crowdsourcing and global virtual collaboration
Week 3: Managing and Coaching GVTs
Module 3 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 7. The Art of Effective Feedback
- Chapter 8. Team Counseling
- Chapter 9. Managing Conflict in Project Teams
- Chapter 10: Organizing and leading webinars and discussion groups
Week 4: Technologies and Knowledge for GVT-Based IB Consulting
Module 4 Exam Topics:
- Chapter 11. Online Collaboration Tools
- Chapter 12. Academic Referencing Styles
- Chapter 13. Plagiarism
- Chapter 14: The Basics of International Business
Applicants who successfully pass the Theoretical Phase will earn the opportunity to participate in Phase 2, the Practical Phase.
Phase 2: Practical Training Activities (remaining weeks)
- Coaching global virtual teams what are participating in the X-Culture project
- Completing a Portfolio that summarizes their experiences
- Resume and Interviewing workshop and feedback opportunity
- Organizing and leading a live instructional webinar
- Facilitating and participating in quality improvement discussion groups
- Participating in weekly experience-exchange online conferences with other Coaching Program trainees
- Select coaches prepare analytic executive summaries for corporate clients
- Select coaches serve as a judge of work of others, including being a member of the Award Committee that selects the X-Culture Competition winners
- Select coaches develop training materials
- Other professional development and online community activities through the program
“If you are thinking about applying for this program I highly recommend it. It will be challenging, but you will grow professionally and as a person. It is really useful for gaining real world experience.” – Andrea, Italy
Eligibility
The number of Coaches in the X-Culture Coaching Program is typically limited typically to 50 per semester.
- Preference is given to the X-Culture Alumni who had the high scores on peer evaluations (4.0 and higher), whose teams wrote strong reports (4.5 and higher), as well as those who provided the most insightful and thoughtful comments in weekly surveys, and shared most original ideas and suggestions in the post-project survey.
- We are particularly looking for the most motivated people, those who are eager to learn while helping the new generation of X-Culture students to succeed.
- Coaches who successfully complete Phase 1 (pass the theoretical exam) are allowed to advance to Phase 2.
- Coaches that earn 80% on the four assessments and meet the required tasks will receive a certificate and a personalized letter of completion.
- Participants that complete the 4 modules successfully, plus the coaching assessment, will be able to coach global virtual university participants that request support.
- The acceptance fee is non-refundable, yet those that do not complete may still utilize the training materials for their professional development.
“The coaching program offers a unique opportunity to work with students and professionals in a global virtual team. I personally admired the supportive and engaging learning environment which encouraged growth, creativity, and innovation. Participating in this program is a challenging- but incredibly rewarding experience to anyone interested in learning and helping other students succeed.” -Ernest, Ghana
Estimated Time Requirements
The program is very demanding and time-consuming.
Phase 1: Theory
- Review training materials: approximately 1-2 hours per module, 5-10 hours per week
- Weekly Theory exams: approximately 30-60 min per test
Total per week: 5-10 hours
Phase 2: Practice
- Addressing team questions, concerns, providing help: approximately 2-3 hours per week
- Weekly assignments and providing feedback and suggestions: approximately 3-7 hours per week
- Team webinars and training material creation
- Additional research and optional program modules: as desired
- Portfolio creation: approximately 5-10 hours total
Total per week: 5-20 hours
Total time investment over the 16 weeks: 60-120 hours.
X-Culture Coaching Program Tuition
Program Fee
- The full program fee is $775.
- Recipients of Coaching Program Tuition Reduction Award pay $275 USD total.
- Recipients of the Administrative Assistantship Program Tuition Reduction Award pay $75 USD total, with a commitment to serve the program an additional 5-hours per week.
X-Culture Coaching Program Tuition Reduction Award
Applicants meeting one or more of the following criterion will qualify for a $500 tuition reduction (paying $275 total for the entire program):
- Applicants whose peer evaluations in X-Culture were 4.0 or higher
- Applicants who were members of the winning teams
- Applicants who have attended one or more past live X-Culture events such as Symposiums or X-Culture Global Business Week
- Citizens and permanent residents of countries with GPD/capita less $15,000 as per the World Bank 2019 statistics
Administrative Assistantship Tuition Reduction Award
Applicants meeting the following criteria will be eligible for a $700 reduction in program tuition (paying $75 total for the entire program):
- Providing a sincere commitment to 5-additional hours of work per week (administrative help with the X-Culture Project).
- Duties will include a weekly assignment as distributed by the Administrative Assistantship Program Director. Typically these duties relate to review of past client reports, providing structured reports, coding data as directed, providing analytical reports, and other X-Culture documentation tasks.
- Must be a good manager of their own time and a strong communicator.
- Must be able to check and respond to email from the Administrative Assistantship Program Director throughout the week.
- These duties are in addition to the weekly coaching program assignments.
“It’s one of my best decisions that I applied to the Coaching Program and the Administrative Assistantship Program. It improves many kinds of professional skills that can be used in the future, develops English language skills, and you can make friends too.”
-Szonja, Hungary
To apply for either of these tuition reduction awards, please complete the details in the application form.
Returning Coaches, Tuition 100% Waived
- For coaches that are returning after completing one semester as a coach, the fee is always waived upon application approval.
“Having been a coach 3 times now, X-Culture has proven to be very beneficial to me in a variety of ways. My time as a coach has given me a lot of knowledge and abilities. My leadership abilities, teamwork abilities, and theoretical understanding of international business and global virtual teams have all improved. It has given me the opportunity to expand my professional network, and working with coaches from all around the world has been such a privilege. Coaches and students can benefit from X-Culture, especially if you’re considering a career in international business. You will undoubtedly stand out as a unique individual to employers thanks to the skills, experience, and knowledge you have earned.” – Motheo, Botswana
Application Details
You will be asked to:
- Upload your Resume
- Provide essay answers (this will have a large impact on your application)
- Recall your past experience with X-Culture
- Please be prepared to spend 30-60 minutes completing the application