Storytelling, content creation, and intercultural skills – in a short-term program, eight bachelor students from FHWien der WKW gained valuable international experience during their studies.
Eight students of the Bachelor’s programs in Corporate Communication traveled to Ghent to create stories for social media to market three Belgian cities. The one week trip took place at the beginning of April as a Blended Intensive Program (BIP). They worked in international teams of four with students from Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, HdM (Hochschule der Medien) Stuttgart, TAMK Tampere University of Applied Sciences, AUAS (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences), AANT (Accademia delle Arti e Nuove Tecnologie), and University Bacau.
Looking for compelling stories… and finding them!
Besides Ghent, students travelled by train to the cities of Antwerp and Ostend to uncover hidden stories and transformed them into social media stories. The students conducted research on the target audience (young travellers) and how to engage them (young travellers) in compelling stories. Each team could choose between different Instagram content pieces – a single post, a carousel, a story or a reel. Student teams received feedback on their stories and presented the best piece to a jury, who selected a winning team for each city at the end of the week.
Short-term programs abroad boost intercultural skills
In this short-term program, students from FHWien der WKK not only learned about storytelling techniques and how to find a hook for an engaging story but also practiced their intercultural skills and had the chance to explore their creative potential.
Simone Zwickl, Academic Expert & Lecturer from the Communication Management study programs at FHWien der WKW accompanied the students:
“This was an intense and challenging week for the students as well as for the lecturers, but it provided valuable hand-on experience on storytelling, city Marketing, and intercultural collaboration. The presented stories showed that the students not only looked at the sights but talked to people in each city to find a unique hook for an individual story.”
Many thanks to the Artevelde University of Applied Sciences for the organization!