Bilingual and study abroad college students’ attitudes on global and intercultural competence

Abstract

This research investigates bilingual and study abroad college students’ intercultural attitudes on their understanding of global competence at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). To achieve this goal, an ad hoc questionnaire was developed based on the OECD framework for global competence. A total of 203 college students (157 females, 46 males) participated in this study. Results suggest that students seek to understand others and demonstrate interest in how people from various cultures see the world, and they are able to explain global issues such as climate change and pandemics. In addition, female college students show a greater predisposition to discuss issues such as gender equality. These results highlight the importance of international mobility programmes to prepare students for an increasingly multicultural, global and interconnected society.