Globally, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of foreign tertiary education students enrolled outside their country of origin in the past decade. The increasing cultural diversity on university campuses, such as in Australia, can potentially contribute to internationalising the outlook and developing the intercultural competence of all staff and students. However, research suggests that being in a culturally diverse educational environment does not automatically lead to frequent and high quality intercultural interactions, or increase in cultural learning among domestic students. Instead, educators have advocated that program leaders should engage communities of academics in embedding intercultural competence development in the formal curriculum, and evaluate the subsequent impact on academic staff and student outcomes. This approach has been adopted in an Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Project titled Internationalisation at Home (IaH), which involved providing Business and Health academic staff members with professional development adapted from an established intercultural training resource – the EXCELL (Excellence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership) Program. This seminar will report the action research processes and outcomes of the IaH Project implemented at two Australian universities. Implications of the findings will be discussed in the context of internationalization strategies at institutional and faculty levels, particularly for professional preparation of Australian graduates for the Asian century.

Professor Anita Mak is Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Health at the University of Canberra and a Visiting Fellow with ADSRI.