The purpose of the present study was to investigate student music teachers’ expec-tations towards their future professional activity and competences of a music teacher. Two gro-ups of students (76 Lithuanian and 64 foreign), who chose studies at Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, participated in the research. In this article, the results from the qualitative survey carried out in 2017 will be highlighted. The results showed that in music education it is particularly important to combine orientation towards pedagogical activities with orientation towards the spread of the learner’s personality. The music students at the University describe their future professional activities as broad and multidimensional ones but they also emphasise the importance of personal values, implementation of general, subject-specific, professional (didactic) competences and continuous improvement. Participation in musical and artistic activities plays a specific role in the spread of professional identity of a music teacher.

This is the second part of the longitudinal inquiry, which serves as basis revealing peculiarities of developing intercultural competence of university students through different international study programs (Lasauskienė & Bagdonavičiūtė, 2017). Both authors of the article, as educators, deliver courses to international students in the study programs of English Philology and Music Education implemented at Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences and a specific course of English for Erasmus students. International students’ written reflections (n=9) were reflexively analysed in order to examine how students’ unique positions, intercultural experiences and perspectives affect their attention to cultural diversity. Sociocultural theory frames this study with emphasis on personal stories of intercultural experiences. Through the methodology of narrative inquiry, four salient themes became apparent related to socio-cultural experiences of international students: (a) ‘Unknown country. Why not?’, (b) ‘Unseen Lithuania. Nice people’, (c) ‘Not what we expected!’ and (d) ‘It opened my eyes’. Overall, the results of this study revealed that within development of intercultural competence, international students’ opportunities to learn about alien cultures, to improve their foreign language skills and to form new relationships as well as to acquire socio-cultural experiences gain utmost significance. More importantly, such experiences are understood as necessary precursors of acquiring intercultural competence. In this way socio-cultural experiences offer opportunities for international students to intertwine their personal, cultural, social and professional (self-) development.