POSEIDO. 2014;2(3) ISAIAS FAST scores in European and Korean universities 179 ISSN 2307-5295, Published by the POSEIDO Organization & Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License T

Abstract Background and objectives. Internationalization is a major evolution in implant dentistry and biomaterial higher education and research. The aim of the present 3-part study was to apply the ISAIAS method (Intercultural Sensitivity Academic Index & Advanced Standards) in this highly specialized dental field, and to evaluate the impact of leaders of internationalization. In this first part, the ISAIAS method was applied to the general campus of 3 universities, to validate the method itself and to assess the internationalization efforts of the participant universities through the development of intercultural competences, particularly in the Asian and European contexts. Materials and Methods. In each campus, a group of 20 Professors and 100 undergraduate students from 3 different Universities (respectively University of Granada, Spain; ParisSorbonne University, France; and Chonnam National University, South Korea) were observed through the ISAIAS FAST (Fast Assessment Screening Test) questionnaire and through intensive field study (mixed methodology, i.e. combination of qualitative and quantitative methods). A final ISAIAS FAST score (mean value) was calculated for each group, including the mean scores in the 4 dimensions of intercultural competences, and scores were integrated with field observation for interpretation. Results. The scores observed in the 3 universities presented different patterns, but relatively mild scores (always between 2 and 3), what appeared typical from Universities with moderate internationalization policies, i.e. a wish for internationalization which may not be fully fulfilled because of the organizational culture of the institution. Discussion and conclusions. The scores appeared coherent with the field observations in all aspects. The ISAIAS mixed methodology appeared as an easy and useful method to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the internationalization efforts of these universities through the evaluation of the development of intercultural competences of the students and researchers/professors, but it requires to combine the FAST scores with an in-depth field study