The growing xenophobia in Europe today is linked to uncertainty in the labour market, increased political conflicts and economic changes that have shaped this continent since the beginning of the 1990s (Colby, 2006; Chisholm, 2000). After the Second World War, the European education sector has been facilitating constructive intercultural encounters between young people from different countries and cultures, in order to combat racism and xenophobia among young people. Traditionally, mostly privileged youth did participate in organized international exchanges (Slimbach, 2010), however during the last decade marginalized young people form a new priority group in European youth work, when working under one overarching UNESCO-defined goal for all education in Europe: "Learning to live together in a multicultural world." (Delors, 1996).  This signals that the organized intercultural youth encounter is a learning arena in transaction. Many researchers are claiming that intercultural learning must relate more closely to identity politics, globalization and young people`s everyday life, and be developed as a field of research (Gomes, 2009; Titley, 2005).

Globalization is creating new social realities and constant changes at the societal level that helps to define the context of young people and thus their experiences (Suarez-Orozco & Satting, 2007)). Education systems worldwide are criticized in failing to prepare young people for the challenges of globalization and immigration represents today (Cheng, 2007). The lack of foundations of education relevant knowledge in young people's own lifeworld is linked to increased incidence of school drop-out among youth worldwide (Suarez-Orozco & Satting, 2007). This completed PhD study asks how intercultural youth encounters can contribute as a learning arenas today in young people`s lives.   

The overall research question asks, "What kinds of processes of learning and identification are activated through participation in international youth exchange programs?" By making a theoretical link between a critical hermeneutic approach to intercultural communication research (Dahl, 2006) and socio-cultural learning theory (Holland et.al. 1998), the purpose of this study is to renew the interpretation of the concepts within the learning outcomes of intercultural youth encounters.

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