Intercultural competence—the ability to successfully interact and communicate sensitively with members of other cultural groups—is an essential skill in multicultural societies and an increasingly globalized world. A quasi-experimental study revealed that completing a cross-cultural international psychology course increased college students’ perceived intercultural competence substantially, relative to students in a control (research methods) course. The curriculum included an extensive 10-week Cultural Immersion Project, conducted on campus and in the local community, and weekly experientially based group projects. The course may be especially effective for college students with less prior intercultural experience.

在多元文化社会和日益全球化的世界中，跨文化能力（与其他文化群体的成员成功进行互动和敏感交流的能力）是一项必不可少的技能。一项准实验研究表明，相对于控制（研究方法）课程的学生而言，完成跨文化国际心理学课程可以大大提高大学生的感知跨文化能力。课程包括在校园和当地社区进行的为期10周的广泛文化浸入项目，以及每周一次的体验式小组项目。该课程对于以前没有跨文化经验的大学生可能特别有效。