Intercultural Skill

An engineer in the 21st century needs a host of capabilities.  These capabilities start with deep technical competence, of course.  But this is not enough.  Within the volatility that will characterize the new normal an engineer must also develop creativity, an entrepreneurial mindset, a collaborative approach to work, social and environmental responsibility, communication efficacy, and intercultural skill.   These are not independent capabilities, of course.  Intercultural skill, for example, encompasses the ability to deal with ambiguity, the development of flexibility, respect for others, cultural empathy, and awareness in communication informed by a knowledge of culture; these attributes contribute to many of the other capabilities.  But how does a student develop these intercultural skills?

It is possible to study other cultures, or take courses on intergroup relations such as Sociology 122, or pursue an academic minor focused on a specific part of the world, or a broader minor such as the International Minor for Engineers.  But intercultural skill requires practice; it cannot be learned only by listening in lecture.  So wise students will elect to collide with another culture and perhaps learn intercultural skills by experience; the obvious way to do this is through the rich experience of study abroad.

The efficacy of study abroad has been studied in several ways, and these studies inform how students can best take advantage of the experience.  Williams (Journal of Studies in International Education, 9, pg. 356, 2005) shows that students who study abroad have a greater increase in their intercultural communication skills than those who do not.  But his work also shows that simply studying abroad is not enough: it is the meaningful interaction with other cultures that leads to growth in intercultural communication skills.  The experiential environment of study abroad can work, but only if students really interact with another culture in as many ways as possible.

Yet it is also important to recognize that a student’s intent plays a role in their learning in an experiential environment.  Just experiencing another culture will not make students better at dealing with another culture.  Kitsantas (College Student Journal, 38, pg. 441, 2004) shows that students doing study abroad increase their intercultural skills when they approach their study abroad with the intention of learning intercultural skill. Students must approach the experience with the intention to learn, and must reflect on the experience in order to gain the benefit.

At the University of Michigan our students are ideally placed to greatly increase their intercultural skills.  They can interact with other cultures through many study abroad programs, and they can interact with other cultures right here on our campus.  But they must invest in the effort with some intentionality, reflection, and honest discussion on the experience.  Doing so will help students gain one of the core competencies of a 21st century engineer: intercultural skill.