Intercultural competence in higher education: academics’ perspectives

Several review articles focusing on the development of intercultural competence in higher education have already been published. What the field lacks is a review article focusing on the evaluation of existing methodological approaches to investigating the teaching of intercultural competence in higher education. This review of 44 articles published between 2018 and 2022 aims to examine trends, classify, summarize, and evaluate approaches to researching intercultural competence, with a particular emphasis on technology-supported interventions. It demonstrates what characterizes this research (e.g., in terms of sample size or assessment instruments) and highlights areas for methodological improvement and thus a platform for future research directions.

This research investigates intercultural communication competence (ICC) and its main components (affective, cognitive and behavioral) in relation to academic mobility. It also discusses the value of assessing intercultural competence in higher education and points out the relationship between academic mobility, foreign language learning and the development of intercultural competence. The discussion then leads to the development of an intercultural communication assessment tool for academic mobility: Mobile Students’ Intercultural Competence Scale (MSICS). This tool focuses mainly on analyzing Turkish Erasmus students’ intercultural competence before and after their study abroad experience. Even though many intercultural competence assessment tools exist in the present literature, there is a lack of materials in this context which mainly focus on analyzing mobile students’ intercultural communication competence.

Discutir competências interculturais na educação superior brasileira pressupõe um olhar para os aspectos culturais e desenvolvimento de competências nesse contexto, conceitos diretamente entrelaçados com discussões acerca da qualidade. A predominância de “formatos monoculturais arcaicos” que reproduzem diversas formas de racismo ou ainda um ambiente que se fundamenta em uma interculturalidade funcional nos instiga a nutrir reflexões sobre a evolução do contexto da educação superior na América Latina. Além disso, competências é um tema fundamental no ambiente educacional, visto que, preparar os discentes para o mundo global já é mais do que uma realidade. Essa pesquisa buscou analisar a percepção dos discentes quanto ao conceito de competências e competências interculturais e suas práticas em uma universidade pública brasileira. O caminho percorrido foi uma pesquisa de campo, qualitativa, estudo de caso, com uso de questionário e da Análise Textual Discursiva (ATD). Os principais resultados trouxeram confirmação teórica da predominância no Brasil do conceito de competências como input, o conceito de competências interculturais como uma ramificação deste e polissêmico, bem como os elementos (contexto, atores sociais e práticas) como essenciais para o desenvolvimento de competências interculturais na educação superior.

Digital internationalization has moved beyond “mobility-at-a-distance” toward course-embedded designs that can scale intercultural competence (IC) development. Using PRISMA, we mapped digital technologies and pedagogical strategies used to teach IC in higher education, outcome measures, direction of effects, and equity-related implementation conditions, and we added mechanism-oriented coding linking modality affordances to learning processes and IC outcomes. We searched Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC and screened 133 records. Twenty-four studies (total n = 1,787) met eligibility criteria. We combined descriptive bibliometrics with an adapted JBI quality appraisal (median quality 78.6%, IQR 57.1–85.7), a SWiM synthesis of effect direction by strategy, and intervention-level mechanism coding. Evidence clusters around LMS/forums, videoconferencing and collaboration suites, immersive VR/360°, telepresence/telesimulation, MOOCs, and guided inquiry. Across modalities, the most consistent IC gains occur when interventions instantiate structured intercultural contact, facilitation and feedback, authentic co-production, and guided reflection/debriefing. Scenario-based and immersive formats are most effective when situated performance is paired with structured debriefing and feedback. By contrast, content-centric LMS/MOOC formats show mixed results unless instructors engineer dialogic tasks and active facilitation to convert exposure into interaction. Most studies rely on standardized self-report measures; performance or observational evidence is less common and concentrates in simulation and role-play contexts. Reported constraints include connectivity, language and time-zone barriers, and facilitation workload, underscoring the role of institutional support. Future research should strengthen comparative and longitudinal designs, report implementation fidelity and dosage, validate instruments across languages, and triangulate self-report with performance evidence and downstream academic/employability outcomes.

The increasing demand for culturally competent professionals and a globalized labour market are pressures pushing for the internationalization of higher education institutions. International students and the development of intercultural competence (IC) are crucial in a polarized socioeconomic context, where nationalism and populist movements are on the rise. A systematic literature review was performed on the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases to understand the scholarly production on the development of intercultural competence in higher education and the perceptions of higher education stakeholders. The results point to an increase in scholarly articles on the topic and the need to identify and clearly insert intercultural competence within the curriculum, and to identify difficulties in intercultural encounters among unprepared stakeholders and the higher market return of interculturally competent professionals. The conclusions point to the need to further integrate IC in tertiary education, bearing in mind the obstacles and returns of developing this competence.

Resumo Competências interculturais na educação superior, em especial brasileira, constitui um tema incipiente apesar de sua importância longínqua e de ser um espaço indiscutivelmente composto de um rico arcabouço cultural. Ambiente com a predominância da perspectiva funcional da interculturalidade (CANDAU, 2012; WALSH, 2009), ainda carece de reflexões acerca do desenvolvimento de saberes sobre as temáticas que a permeiam. Este artigo buscou uma interlocução conceitual acerca de competências interculturais na educação superior, a partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica do tipo qualitativa e exploratória, apropriando-se das principais publicações nacionais e internacionais a respeito do tema. A reflexão conceitual partiu de discussões acerca de competências e interculturalidade , bem como a junção dos dois construtos (competências interculturais) na educação superior. Portanto, foi possível realizar uma releitura com base nos conceitos de competências na ótica de inputs (corrente predominante norte-americana com ênfase no conjunto de características do sujeito) e outputs (corrente predominante europeia com foco nos resultados) e da interculturalidade (interação entre culturas) com concepção de classificação como relacional, funcional e crítica de Walsh (2009). Entende-se que a partir desta pesquisa sejam incitadas novas discussões e olhares acerca do tema, bem como estudos empíricos que venham agregar os resultados aqui apresentados, além de incentivar a busca por didáticas a serem implementadas que visam ao desenvolvimento de competências interculturais na Educação Superior.

This chapter focuses on the contribution scientific evaluation can make to the modeling and measurement of competencies in higher education. The chapter is divided into three parts. In the first section, the basics of scientific evaluation are briefly described with a specific focus on relevant aspects of program evaluation.

The paper discusses the essence of intercultural competence in the light of transition to education for sustainable development. The authors provide critical review of the concept of intercultural competence and its components. The interrelation of intercultural and linguistic competences in higher education has been reevaluated. Special attention has been given to Intercultural Communication as an academic discipline. The authors stress the importance of developing intercultural competence as an integral part of University education.

The current university model in a market-driven and knowledge-based society entails a change in the teachers' roles. The prevailing narrative sustains a competence-based approach in higher education, considering that quality education implies that teachers in this context must have personal, research and pedagogical skills that enable them to perform their teaching function effectively. A systematic review of empirical articles published between 2009 and 2019 provides a comprehensive and updated analysis of the higher education teachers' pedagogical competences. A total of 51 texts that describe the teaching competence components (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) were reviewed and retrieved from seven international databases in three languages. Personal skills and qualities stand out as the features most valued by students, whereas teachers highlight curriculum and instructional competence as the most important. Cultural competence and specific competences to respond to diversity and promote inclusion in higher education classrooms are almost nonexistent. The study has implications for defining quality teaching practice transnationally and designing professional development programs focused on the competences and indicators most valued. The resulting framework is also helpful for individual teachers as a tool for reflecting on their teaching characteristics and for improving their practice. It also problematises the current dominant performance-based model of teaching competence in a context that does not recognise the importance of situational profiles that cater for diversity in academic settings.

Introduction Inclusion and diversity have become increasingly important in the context of sport in recent years. Numerous sports organizations and sports policymakers are committed to enable more inclusive sport. Led by the idea of a sport for all, everyone should be able to participate in sport regardless of gender, sexuality, dis_ability, race, or class. Inclusive sport does not only require specific structural conditions. It also demands social actors who have the skills to deal with the challenges of social diversity in an open, appreciative, and innovative way. Coaches, officials, teachers, journalists, and economists working in the field of sport need to be familiar with the topics of gender equity, diversity, and inclusion. This is where the project “Understanding and Experiencing Diversity” (funded by the Swiss Federal Office for Sport) comes in. It aims to develop and test a concept for promoting gender and diversity competence in sport-related higher education, thus enabling social actors to shape sport in a diversity-conscious and inclusive way. Methods The project is being carried out over a period of three years and consists of four project phases. After a phase of conceptual clarification regarding the theoretical framework and terminology, current approaches to gender and diversity competence (in the sport studies context) are being critically analysed. Against this background, phases three and four of the project will focus on the development of a sport-related teaching concept for gender and diversity competence and its testing at three different universities. Results/Discussion The understanding of gender and diversity competence developed in this project is theoretically based on the “trilemma of Inclusion” by Boger (2019). It thus refers to inclusion and non-discrimination as a complex structure of normalization, deconstruction, and empowerment. This is also linked to an intersectional perspective on social differentiation and discrimination (Degele & Winker, 2011). Regarding the promotion of gender and diversity competence in higher education, the attitude of social actors towards diversity and inclusion proves to be particularly important. This aspect has not yet been systematically considered in the context of sport-related higher education in German-speaking countries. The teaching concept developed in this project therefore emphasizes the aspect of attitude (Rischke et al., 2017).

Developing an intercultural communicative competence in higher education is becoming crucial within globalization transformations, covering all areas of educational activity. The Saratov State Agrarian University is a reference university with students from close and distant countries. Thus, the issue of intercultural communication, combining traditional forms, methods and teaching aids with innovative ones is important. The main pedagogical technologies in this context are, first of all, information technologies in combination with methods of enhancing learning. The formation of intercultural communicative competency among students was carried out in control and experimental groups. The process of training and the formation of this competency in the control groups was carried out according to the traditional method, while the modern educational technologies were used in the experimental groups. The components that make up the structure of intercultural communicative competence: general cultural, communicative, and strategic, were introduced in stages, over the course of three semesters of studying the discipline Foreign Language. The first stage was aimed at the formation of basic intercultural knowledge; the second stage emphasizes a more expanded and in-depth acquisition of intercultural knowledge, the ability to build communication strategies, and the development of behavioral models. The third stage was to consolidate the acquired skills, making creative tasks, projects aimed at the formation of all components of intercultural communicative competence. In the process of mastering the cultural material by students, they gradually learned another culture, cultural values through the perception of the national picture of the world.

An increasing relevance of organizational cross-border relationships, and thereby of Europeanization, globalization, and internationalization, has led to the importance of intercultural competence. To develop this competence among their students, most educational institutions have entered into international partnerships and offer international projects accompanied by intercultural curricula. This article concentrates on the influence of these activities in higher education concerning the success of multicultural student teams. The teams analyzed here consist of students from three different nations working on a joint project. Due to the cultural differences, conflicts can be anticipated (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010; Rohn, 2006) and intercultural competence to overcome those conflicts is needed ( Hiller, 2010 ). To reflect the effect of activities strengthening intercultural competence, four university coefficients were allocated to each team based on the theory of, inter alia, Bennett (2011) and Führing (1996) . In a survey, the students assessed at the end of the project how well they felt supported by the different activities and how comfortable they felt within their respective team. Out of this assessment, team success factors were evaluated. It was expected that a positive correlation between the assessment of activities and the team success factors would result. Interestingly, the sample used does not show this relationship. This article is based on a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of literature as well as on empirical research. The main result of the research shows the changing importance of activities to strengthen intercultural competence based on the difference between students’ competence from international universities. Accordingly, it might be a basis on which to restructure programs teaching intercultural competence in higher education.

Abstract. In the current conditions of explosive development of information technologies in education, rapid obsolescence of knowledge, "death" of entire segments of professions and in¬creasing local and global competition for talent, the problem of developing and implementing a modern, competitive individual educational trajectory (IET) of students comes to the fore. Among the tools and organizational approaches designed to solve this problem, the task of forming, developing and improving the institute of tutors is highlighted. In the deep and extensive academic discussion that has developed in recent years around tutoring, the topic of tutor support at the university stands out. However, at the moment, this part of the discussion does not put an end to one of the most important issues for the organization of work of this category of aca¬demic staff – that there is a model of competence of a tutor at the university. The relevance of this issue is also confirmed by the absence of a separate professional standard of tutoring, which is certainly necessary in higher education organizations. Today, the standard "specialist in the field of education" includes only a generalized function – "tutor support of students". The article analyzes various approaches and views on the model of tutors' competencies in higher education. A working model of the competencies of this professional group is presented on the example of a modern Russian university that has successfully implemented the concept of an individual educational trajectory in its activities. There are described practical approaches and solutions for using the above model in the processes of attracting, evaluating, training and developing tutors at the university. The prospects for further development and scaling of the tutor competence model in other universities of the Russian Federation are considered. As a result of the research, new models and algorithms for the formation of tutor competencies are proposed, which can be used for scaling and implementation in higher education. This research and its results may be of interest to the management of higher education institutions, representatives of services and departments responsible for the development of new educational technologies and improving the quality of human capital of higher education institutions.

Cultural competency is widely recognised as essential in modern higher education, given the increasing prevalence of culturally diverse student bodies. However, turning that recognition into educational practices that align with the social and cultural realities of each country is challenging. This article argues that prevailing approaches to cultural competency often ignore the ideological frameworks in which they are embedded. Drawing on the contrasting cases of Britain and France, where celebratory multiculturalism and assimilationist republicanism, respectively, shape educational norms, we reveal how cultural engagement is too often constrained by national traditions. We advocate for a reconceptualisation of cultural competency as a dynamic, context-sensitive pedagogical practice rather than a universalised skillset. Grounded in the scholarship of critical pedagogy and intercultural learning, and speaking to an international audience of educators, this work calls for tailored, reflexive approaches that interrogate underlying assumptions and work towards genuinely inclusive and transformative educational experiences across diverse global settings.

This study explores the complexities that are involved in the development of intercultural competence in music teacher education by examining the accounts of two music teacher educators from Finland and Israel who work extensively in culturally diverse contexts. A semi-structured interview method was used in conducting the interviews. Deardorff’s categorisation of the process model for intercultural competence was used as a starting point for the data analysis. The findings suggest that considering intercultural competence within a broader framework of relational professionalism would deepen the understanding of the essential aspects of intercultural music teaching and learning. Seen from this perspective, it is important to acknowledge and identify both the capabilities of music education professionals and the relational and contextual aspects of culturally diverse educational settings. Both hold lessons when striving for a meaningful intercultural educational relationship. The study suggests that in order to enhance the conceptual and experiential understanding of the development of intercultural competence within relational professionalism in music teacher education, music teacher educators could share and discuss their own experiences of teaching in intercultural contexts with their colleagues and students. This can in turn lead to enhanced intercultural competence. The increased self-reflection through sharing and discussion can also make the development of reflexivity possible.