30 high school students from Finland, Turkey, Singapore, and Austria participated in the “Resolving Differences through Negotiation” program during November 2021. Students practiced their communication and negotiation skills with fun and engaging activities. Organized in collaboration with Sopu Academy and Aalto University Junior, the online program provided a unique opportunity to expand students’ perspectives about different cultures.
“The course has taught me a broad understanding of how negotiations work and what to look for when negotiating. It was really helpful and I will definitely use these skills in the future!”
Melanie, Austria
The most important problems of our future go beyond the borders of countries. Global problems require skilled negotiators who know how to navigate in such inter-cultural environments. That’s why we need international negotiation programs for young people. These programs guide students to learn how to negotiate and come up with creative solutions together as a team.
Learning-by-doing in a virtual environment
Today, we still face a lot of challenges about traveling to different countries. However, this course made it possible to connect students from different parts of the world through interactive activities. During the program, high schoolers were given several role-play tasks, negotiation simulations, and games to learn from each other.
“My favorite part of this course was the breakout rooms. I am a shy person and the breakout rooms allow me to talk comfortably with others.”
Mia, Singapore
The learning materials were designed specifically for the upper-secondary level. That’s why students were able to relate to the topics while learning about some fundamental dynamics of business life. “Normally, some programs are not really related to the real-life but this one was definitely related. Even the practices and examples were the ones that we face in our real lives,” said Nil from Turkey. Some negotiations were about the daily lives of the young students such as selling a second-hand bike to a close friend. Others were about business-related problems, for example, a partnership negotiation between two companies.
Teamwork across borders
One of the learning goals of the program was about teamwork and international communication skills. There were negotiation simulations that required team effort for reaching to an agreement. The activities brought students from different countries together to make difficult group decisions that would satisfy everybody.
“In this program, I learned how to decide and work as a team.”
Ada, Turkey
There was also group work outside of the online contact sessions. Participants were asked to create their own negotiation cases with their international peers. Groups submitted creative negotiation scenarios where they showed what they learned in video, animation, text, and cartoon formats.
Although the program was held fully online, these activities provided students to connect with each other across borders and even start new friendships. “I made a lot of new and international friends and learned about things that will surely help me in the future. It was so fun and I’m going to miss it.” said Nehir from Turkey.
“This program showed me what negotiation is really about. It is not just about getting what you want, you should build relationships and think about the other side too.”
Josephina, Finland
Learning from the practitioners
In addition to the simulations and theory sessions, the program included a keynote talk from Claudia Miramo who is currently the project manager at Silo.Ai, one of the leading Artificial Intelligence companies in Finland. As an experienced negotiator with a sales and project management background, Claudia shared stories and tips from business life.
Would you recommend this course to your friends?
The average answer of the participants
Students from 11 different high schools in 4 different timezones
Participants joined the program from 11 high schools: Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu (FI), Ressun Lukio (FI), Gymnasiet Lärkan(FI), Brändö Gymnasium (FI), Helsingin Medialukio (FI), HAK Hallein (AT), Robert College (TR), ITU Ekrem Elginkan High School (TR), Kadıköy Anatolian High School (TR), Avni Akyol Fine Arts High School (TR) and Edgefield Secondary School (SG). The diverse background of the students provided a unique learning experience about different cultural dimensions in negotiations.
