Alejandra Andachi
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Alejandra
Andachi

Researcher in intercultural communication, focusing on how intercultural competence develops in international academic and professional settings.

M.A. Intercultural Management & Communication, Université de BourgogneB.Sc. Economics, Universidad Central del Ecuador

Portrait of Alejandra Andachi
Quito → Dijon → Mainz
01

About

My path into intercultural research began with numbers. I studied Economics at Universidad Central del Ecuador, where I learned to ask what can be measured, and what can't.

That second question led me to Europe and to an M.A. in Intercultural Management and Communication at Université de Bourgogne, part of the FORTHEM European University Alliance. There I studied how intercultural competences develop among staff who work together across languages, institutions and academic cultures.

Today I combine qualitative intercultural research with the quantitative methods of my economics training, so that interview-based insight and structured data can inform one another, both in research and in how intercultural learning is designed.

Working across cultures rarely fails over the big questions. It's the small moments that matter: who speaks first, who is thanked, who takes the last slice of cake.

Alejandra Andachi
  1. Quito
    B.Sc. Economics
    Universidad Central del Ecuador
  2. Dijon
    M.A. Intercultural Management & Communication
    Université de Bourgogne · FORTHEM Alliance
02

Research

Master's thesis

The Last Slice of Cake: A study on the development of intercultural competences among employees in university alliances. The case of FORTHEM

European university alliances depend on staff who work together across institutions, countries and languages, often in English as a shared second language. My thesis explores how employees of the FORTHEM Alliance navigate interculturality in virtual and face-to-face settings, and how their intercultural competences develop over time.

Reading the data through interpretative, critical and positivist paradigms, the study looks at bureaucracy, conflict, decision-making, language and economic constraints. It identifies open-mindedness, awareness, empathy and adaptability as key competences, shaped by training and experience as a lifelong adaptive process.

Approach
Qualitative, multiparadigm
Data
10 semi-structured interviews, deductive thematic analysis
Supervisor
Alex Frame, Université Bourgogne Europe
Research interestsDevelopment of intercultural competence · intercultural business communication · international higher education · mixed-methods empirical research · new technologies in intercultural learning
03

Publications

  1. 2026

    Andachi, A. (2026). The last slice of cake: Relationships and meaning making in intercultural competence. A constructivist study from the FORTHEM Alliance. SIETAR Switzerland Journal.

    Read the article (PDF) ↗
  2. Forthcoming

    Andachi, A. (in press). Rapport at work: Relational practice in European university alliances. Mondial. SIETAR Deutschland.

  3. 2024

    Andachi, A., & Guanoluisa, M. (2024). Vínculos laborales y emocionales: Navegando el vaivén de la realidad de las trabajadoras remuneradas del hogar [Labour and emotional ties: Navigating the ups and downs of paid domestic workers' reality]. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, ILDIS-FES Ecuador.

    View publication ↗ISBN 978-9978-94-257-4 · in Spanish
  4. 2024

    Shih, M. C., & Andachi, A. (2024). Development of skills for intercultural dialogue in the context of migration [Workshop booklet]. FORTHEM Alliance.

    Read the booklet (PDF) ↗Student-driven project · Università degli Studi di Palermo
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Workshops & Practice

Designing and facilitating intercultural learning, in person and online, across the alliance.

Participants and facilitators after the Culture Shock workshop in Dijon
Dijon2024

Online intercultural workshop series

FORTHEM Alliance · Online

A workshop series for international students on culture shock and settling into a new academic environment. I designed and facilitated hands-on group tasks and exercises on non-verbal communication, followed by guided debriefs on how body language and unspoken expectations shape intercultural encounters.

DesignedFacilitated
Alejandra Andachi with her two co-organisers at AgroSup Dijon
AgroSup Dijon2023

Workshop on dialogue and French workplace culture

L’Institut Agro Dijon (AgroSup) × ICM · With Carmen Oprea and Svetlana Shimberg

An afternoon workshop for international students on questioning, dialogue and two-way communication in teams. I was the French-speaking liaison with AgroSup, designed the flyer, registration survey and presentation, and led the session on French internship culture with a handout I compiled.

Co-organisedLiaison in FrenchFacilitated
Participants and facilitators of the student-driven FORTHEM project at the University of Palermo, October 2024
Palermo2024

Workshop series on intercultural skills in migration contexts

FORTHEM Alliance · Project manager and facilitator, with Mei Cheng Shih

A student-driven FORTHEM project at the University of Palermo (10–31 October 2024) on developing skills for intercultural dialogue in the context of migration. Together with Mei Cheng Shih, I managed the project and facilitated the sessions, combining discussion circles, small-group work and reflection. The results were published as a workshop booklet.

Read the workshop booklet ↗
Project managementDesignedFacilitated
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Languages

  • EspañolSpanish · Native
  • EnglishEnglish · C1
  • FrançaisFrench · B2
  • DeutschGerman · A2
06

Contact

I welcome conversations about doctoral positions in intercultural communication, research roles and teaching.