The development of Chinese university students’ intercultural competence in a short-term study-abroad program

Abstract

With increasing internationalization in higher education, more and more Chinese universities are providing students with exchange programs in cooperation with foreign universities. Hitherto, however, research about Chinese university students’ intercultural competence in a study-abroad context has been relatively rare. The present study, adopting a mixed-method research design, examines the development of Chinese students’ intercultural competence in a short-term study-abroad program, as well as the factors that might have a role to play in the process. It is found that the students made significant progress in intercultural competence after participating in the program and factors such as attitudes towards intercultural communication, cultural knowledge storage, English language proficiency and engagement in intercultural communication are important contributors to the development of intercultural competence in a short-term study-abroad context.