How does studying abroad affect engineering students' intercultural competence: A longitudinal case study

We investigated the development of intercultural competence (IC) among engineering students participating in an international study program (GoLaSalle). IC was measured using the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) by Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2001), and the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale (E-CQS) by Van Dyne et al. (2012). Data were collected from 293 French engineering students before and after participating in the semester abroad. In line with previous studies, we found that study abroad plays a central role in the acquisition and development of IC. However, such IC development differs across dimensions and gender. While almost all women’s IC dimensions gained from studying abroad, men’s IC showed less malleability. Our results demonstrate the value of integrating a study abroad semester into the curriculum of engineering students. We discuss ways in which students’ IC could be further improved.