Aesthetics and Cultural Diversity: Experience of Teaching Students in Multicultural Environments: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND The issue of implementing aesthetic dimension in teaching students of art and pedagogical specialties as a means of enhancing intercultural dialogue, acquires particular importance in the conditions of a multicultural academic space of higher education institutions, where representatives of diverse cultural backgrounds study together, bringing their own aesthetic traditions and ideas into interaction. The aim of the article is to present common and distinct approaches to aesthetic education in the universities of Poland and Ukraine and to indicate solutions in the field of exchange of ideas, integration and finding common areas that facilitate intercultural dialogue. MATERIALS AND METHODS The exploration took the form of qualitative research, and the information obtained was taken from documented statements, which, after a deeper analysis, became the basis for preparing the appropriate summary. All respondents confirmed their voluntary participation in the survey by signing the informed consent. RESULTS The article considers experience of implementing aesthetic dimension in the curriculum of Ukrainian and Polish universities, highlights pedagogical strategies and methods used by Ukrainian and Polish teachers to form students’ aesthetic competence and foster intercultural dialogue in multicultural environments of their higher education institutions. The survey of 296 undergraduate and graduate students of Ukrainian and Polish universities has shown that interaction in the multicultural environment, provided by Ukrainian and Polish universities, enriches students’ aesthetic competence, but requires openness, dialogue and willingness to compromise. Joint creative tasks often become a “meeting ground” for different aesthetic ideas and a platform for understanding. Differences in aesthetic ideas do not cause conflicts, but require pedagogical support – facilitation, cultural sensitivity and aesthetic mediation on the part of the teacher. The activities to foster intercultural dialogue include discussions at the academic level, joint research and art projects, as well as joint ventures in the field of aesthetic education (concerts, exhibitions, theatre performances, broadcasts), combined with the exchange of ideas in the spirit of tolerance and constructive narrative. CONCLUSION The practical significance of the findings lies in their potential to develop integration strategies that will foster intercultural interaction between representatives of different cultural backgrounds in the process of acquiring aesthetic experience in multicultural environments of higher education institutions.