Strategies to embed intercultural competence as a soft skill in university curriculum

Intercultural competence (IC) has become significantly important as we interact and function in the global workplace and multicultural societies. To be effective in operating within a diverse multicultural society, understanding, negotiating and managing the differences is crucial. Additionally, the rich diversity should be celebrated in order to have a safe, sustainable and harmony global community. Specifically, internationalization in higher education has led to a significant increase in the importance of IC for students and staff. For international students, “learning shock” and different expectations of teaching styles require them to develop IC in order to be able to interact and facilitate their learning in different cultures. For local students, the increasing numbers of international students and new immigrant students result in the necessity to develop IC. For educators, IC enables them to be responsive to the diverse multicultural student body in order to deliver quality teaching and learning.
In this paper, based on the literature review, we attempt to suggest ways to embed intercultural competence as the soft skill in the university curriculum. Two complementary strategies will be discussed. The first approach focuses on embedding IC in the university curriculum. Considering IC is an abstract skill and difficult to measure, an outcome-based approach will be proposed to map students’ development of IC. The second is through international experience program that provides cross-cultural experience for students. This strategy describes how teaching practicum in other culture appears to be compatible with the principles to develop intercultural competence.