Assessing Cross-cultural Competence in Transnational Education: The Intercultural Development Inventory

Abstract

As transnational education programmes continue to proliferate, a corresponding increase in intercultural competence on the part of faculty, curriculum developers, and support staff is required. Transnational programmes incorporating “best practice” curricula and the most advanced technology and facilities cannot fulll their potential unless they meet the cultural needs of their clientele. Meeting these needs requires an understanding of intercultural com- petence and objective methods to measure and assess it. These requirements raise issues in terms of objectively measuring cross-cultural competence and designing and assessing training pro- grammes in this vital area. The author introduces the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), Bennett’s conceptual framework for understanding the developmental stages of intercultural competence, and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a psychometric instrument for measuring cross-cultural competence and training needs, in both individuals and groups, and assessing training outcomes.