Developing intercultural competence through internationalizing higher education: case studies of three Japanese universities

In this paper, we explored the role of intercultural competence programs in internationalization efforts as a means to move universities beyond traditional performative aspects of increasing international enrollments, exchanges, and competitiveness toward more transformative aspects of developing faculty and students’ intercultural capabilities as a goal that is more proximal to global governance. Intercultural competence is increasingly recognized as essential for navigating the complexities of global issues and global governance. Yet its absence in cultivation within higher education internationalization agendas remains underexplored at East Asian universities, including Japan. As an exploratory case study, we used a convenient sample of three universities that are participating in the Japanese government-supported Top Global University internationalization project and who are also known to conduct intercultural competence programs. Each university reveals creative and diverse approaches to fostering intercultural competence, including curriculum internationalization, intercultural role modeling, student exchange programs, faculty and student development, and institutional partnerships with primary and secondary schools. Using the American Council on Education (2024) model of comprehensive internationalization, we discuss the insights gained from these three universities’ connections of intercultural competence and internationalization according to the six target areas and three focus lenses. These case studies demonstrate preliminary but promising outcomes for the development of intercultural competence that can translate into global governance capabilities for sustainable development goals. Moreover, the findings underscore the importance of intercultural competence programs in preparing individuals for leadership roles in global governance and the role of higher education institutions who are pursuing internationalization to foster this critical capability.