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There are many studies regarding the value of gaining cultural awareness, but limited empirical evidence has been shared on programs that use integrated learning and capacity building interventions to specifically build cultural competence in aspiring undergraduate leaders. This qualitative case study examined the effects of interventions designed to build intercultural competence in first-year honors students participating in a leadership development program using co-curricular activities, undergraduate research, and a short-term education abroad. Data collected from two cohorts who completed the first year of the program revealed students’ perceptions of their short-term education abroad experience’s impact on their intercultural competence and leadership development. The study demonstrates the value of integrated leadership and intercultural competence development among undergraduate students.

The leaders of the future will have to lead with intercultural competence and with the ability to facilitate this development of competence in others. The development of skills in undergraduate students to meet this challenge is paramount to the establishment of effective leadership for the future. Within this study, researchers address the challenge by quantitatively examining intercultural competency outcomes students derive from leadership-based study abroad experiences. For five years, researchers utilized a pre-post intercultural competency survey of student participants in a leadership education study abroad program in Zambia, Africa. Using the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES), data was analyzed for seventy-eight students who participated in this five-week study abroad course. The results demonstrate statistically significant growth on students’ intercultural competency across all ten measures of dimensions and sub-scales. Recommendations provide a framework for leadership educators to employ pedagogies that influence intercultural development within study abroad as a means of developing global leadership in their students.

The purpose of this study is to diagnose and understand Portuguese academics’ perspectives on the components of intercultural competence and on the importance of its development by higher education students.

Academics’ perspectives were identified during two discussion and reflection sessions included in the overall training program Intercultural Competence in Higher Education: building proposals with academics that took place at a Portuguese public university. Data were collected through audio recordings of the two sessions and observation notes and were subject to content analysis, drawing on Deardorff’s process model of intercultural competence (2006).

Academics recognize the multidimensionality of intercultural competence, acknowledging that it comprises attitudes (acceptance and respect; curiosity and openness), knowledge (others’ cultural contexts; self-knowledge and cultural self-awareness) and skills (observation and listening) that altogether will lead to individuals’ desired internal and external outcomes. The development of intercultural competence by higher education students, regarded in close relation to higher education internationalization, is considered crucial for changing prejudiced attitudes, preparing students to live in a global world and empowering them professionally.

The study sheds light on an issue that has been insufficiently addressed by research: academics’ perspectives on intercultural competence development, namely, in the Portuguese higher education context.

The authors examine the role of internationalisation at-home activities and an international classroom at a home institution to promote intercultural competence development during a study abroad.

The authors use large scale longitudinal data from the global mind monitor (GMM) (2018–2020) to examine change over time in both multicultural personality (MPQ) and cultural knowledge (CQ) among students in Dutch higher education institutions. The authors analyse the moderating effect of the preparation in the home institution by looking at the added value of both intercultural communication courses and international classroom setting for intercultural competence development during a study abroad.

The results show that particularly courses on intercultural communication significantly promote intercultural competence development during a stay abroad. Frequent interactions with international staff also seem to be beneficial for this development.

This study was conducted in the Netherlands, in one of the most internationalised educational systems in the world. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise these findings to other contexts before any further empirical research is conducted.

Based on the findings, the authors formulate practical advice for higher education institutions that aim to get the most out of the international learning outcomes of a study abroad.

This paper is the first to assess the moderating effect of preparatory internationalisation at home initiatives on the intercultural learning effects of international experiences later on in a study program. Other studies have proposed that these effects will exist but have not tested them empirically with longitudinal data.

This chapter begins with an overview of the concept of intercultural competence and its fundamental role in our global society. Using examples of inquiry-based learning (IBL) methods as a means to provide interdisciplinary pedagogies that foster learners’ intercultural competence development, this chapter examines innovative approaches to respond to this global community need in the academic context. With a review of interdisciplinary IBL methods, the chapter centers on the following three principal areas: (1) role of IBL and service-learning (SL) in the development of intercultural competence within an interdisciplinary framework, (2) practical examples of how the author implements IBL using cooperative learning strategies and SL into humanities courses that consist of students from various disciplines ranging from health to political sciences for intercultural competence development, and (3) challenges and benefits of SL programs as forms of IBL.

Based on the necessity for universities through the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to switch to online teaching from one day to the other, this study aims to show how a combination of different online teaching approaches makes it possible to activate reflection as an enabler of intercultural competency development even though real experience, interaction and exchange elements could not be implemented as usual.

This study is based on insights on experiential learning using intercultural competence development through the mechanism of reflection in combination with findings from on- and offline learning settings and informal learning processes. Adapting Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle, this study presents an online course design for an undergraduate course in intercultural competencies. This study delineates an assessment of the course based on student evaluation results and excerpts of student essays.

This study demonstrates how the acquisition of important future skills such as reflection skills can be successfully mastered by combining different online teaching approaches. This study also shows that Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle continues to yield critical benefits when adapted it to the “new reality.”

This study provides a case study on how business schools can deal with special challenges in courses where competencies are taught, which are usually developed through real experiences or informal learning. An application to other types of experiential learning activities is considered valuable. It is useful to further adopt elements in a post-COVID-19 teaching environment. Especially using apps as described can contribute to make learning more tailored to each student. As such, this paper contributes to the body of research on the importance of reflection skills in an educational and virtual context.

Allowing for interaction with foreign cultures without the need to travel, intercultural virtual collaboration represents a potential tool to develop business students’ intercultural competence. This study aims to explore students’ perceptions towards the implementation of a research-based task sequence in a project in which undergraduate Business students from Spain collaborated virtually with undergraduate business students from The Netherlands during a semester. More specifically, this paper investigates what intercultural competence indicators were mostly developed by the sequence implemented; how much each task from the sequence in question developed different intercultural competence indicators; and how much students enjoyed participating in each task.

Data was collected through after-task reflection questionnaires. A quantitative analysis of Likert-type questions was carried out and open-ended responses were used to illustrate findings.

Results reveal that the task sequence developed different dimensions of students’ intercultural competence and, particularly, fostered a positive attitude towards intercultural relationships, increased students’ cultural knowledge and awareness and equipped students with skills to work in diverse teams. It also showed that as complexity grew along the sequence, the average students’ perception of their intercultural competence development tended to decrease. The majority of students’ very much liked participating in the different tasks.

Designing telecollaborative projects can be very challenging and understanding the learning potential of different pedagogical strategies for virtual collaborative environments can help teachers to take better-informed decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of foreign immersion programs in terms of increasing cross-cultural awareness among university students in business, accounting, human resources and agriculture. The authors extrapolate from their population to the practice of developing business professionals on international assignments.

This paper presents findings of a four-year, government-sponsored university exchange program involving 40 professional management and agriculture science students from four US and Brazilian top research universities who participated in a semester-long study abroad experience. Pre-departure and post-exchange data were collected using the well-established Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). In addition, the authors collected academic performance data and verbal mid- and end-project personal assessments. Two of the authors of this paper served as project directors, the third as evaluation specialist.

Despite intensive pre-departure preparation, in-country support and cultural immersion, the research subjects failed to attain significant and consistently higher levels of intercultural awareness. Students tended to overestimate their own level of cross-cultural competence both before and after the program. While students tended to perform well academically and voiced high levels of satisfaction with their own overseas stay, objective measures of cross-cultural awareness did not mirror these outcomes.

Multiple measures of cross-cultural competence exist, and it is possible that the development in areas other than those measured by the IDI did take place. It is also sensible to assume that cognitive development might take longer and was not captured by the post-test right after return.

The paper suggests that cross-cultural development requires carefully designed interventions, feedback and mentoring/coaching. Simply sending individuals on overseas assignments, no matter how well prepared and supported by the institution, does not guarantee the development of multi-cultural attitudes and cognitive frames of mind.

The development of cross-cultural competence has been described as a central concern for universities and workplaces alike. The burgeoning research literature on cross-cultural development reflects not only the importance of the topic but also the struggle to find effective pedagogical and andragogical approaches to fostering such development in university students, expatriate managers, working professionals and members of the workforce in general.

The paper presents evaluation findings of a carefully designed and well-supported exchange program over a period of four years and involving three cohorts of students. These students are at the cusp of moving into the workplace, where many will assume professional and leadership positions in international settings. Given the high failure rate of international development and placement and the increasing global interconnectedness of academic and business organizations, the paper suggests the need for carefully designed and well-supported overseas programs to maximize cross-cultural development.

As graduates in higher education engage with multiple constituencies from around the world, having cultural competency skills is valuable. Intercultural competence enables people to initiate and sustain dialogues among their diverse colleagues and members of the globalized community. In this chapter, Barger examines the role of dialogue education in attaining intercultural competency in graduate courses. According to Vella, dialogue education values inquiry, integrity, and commitment to equity. People should treat others with respect and recognize their knowledge and experience within the community of learning. Dialogue education provides a safe and inclusive place for learners to voice their perspectives and opinions. This chapter utilizes a professor’s reflections with respect to teaching a graduate Intercultural Communication (IC) course in a private liberal-arts college. In the narrative, she discusses teaching and learning strategies to help adult learners understand the importance of intercultural competence and interactions in a multicultural and multilingual world. Barger also examines the integrative reflections of graduate students that took the IC course.

With the overarching goal of cultivating global citizens, many higher education institutions have developed and implemented co-curricular leadership programs for their constituents. Quantitative research on the impact of leadership programs on undergraduate students has shown an increase in self-awareness and social consciousness, both characteristics of global citizens. Yet, research has failed to adequately address the impact of leadership programs on global students’ sense of self. Global students include any individual who has spent a significant portion of their developmental years outside the country of higher education, including international students, children of international religious missionaries, international military personnel, international businesspeople or government diplomats. The central question that informed this qualitative inquiry was: How do former global students who participated in a co-curricular intercultural leadership program describe the impact of their involvement on their current sense of self in post-baccalaureate life? For this qualitative inquiry, grounded theory case study was utilized to explore the experiences of 15 former global students who participated in a co-curricular, intercultural leadership development program. This empirical research into the impact of co-curricular leadership programs on global students’ sense of self in their post-baccalaureate life contributed to the theory of intercultural competence development. It also provided practical implications for the components of high impact leadership programs as well as the value of providing developmental programs for global students.