Internationalization at home as a factor affecting intercultural competence. A study among Belgian university students

Abstract

Intercultural competence is an increasingly desirable life skill in a multicultural and globalized world. To promote this learning outcome, higher education institutions can offer internationalization activities both at home and abroad. Research investigating to what extent ‘Internationalization at home’ (IaH) initiatives, as opposed to study abroad, affect the development of intercultural competence (IC) in students, especially in universities where the home student population is still mainly white, like at the university in focus in this paper, is scarce. This survey study aimed to gain insights into the intercultural competence of 506 Flemish university students, and the factors predominantly positively affecting IC development. Our findings reveal that study abroad, participation in cocurricular IaH initiatives, foreign language mastery and use, and the personality traits agreeableness and openness have a bearing on IC and feature among the main explanatory factors. Overall, the findings suggest that the 60,000 student European research university in focus appears successful at having created a study environment that is truly international and can contribute to IC development over the years of study. Via the integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments, it contributes to developing international and intercultural mindsets in students.