Definition of Intercultural Competence According to Undergraduate Students at an International University in Germany

University graduates are required to possess intercultural competence in addition to strong academic skills in today's globalized world. Although such competence has been defined in various theoretical models by intercultural scholars, it remains unknown how the recipients of higher education (the students) define this concept. A total of 130 undergraduate university students (from Western and non-Western cultures), living on a multicultural campus, provided short qualitative responses to a written question on how they define intercultural competence. According to a qualitative content analysis, the students defined intercultural competence in terms of interaction, communication, and cultural harmony. Unlike intercultural scholars, the students placed more emphasis on the understanding and awareness of other cultures rather than focusing on their own culture. It appears that young university students from multicultural backgrounds consider tolerance and collective harmony as the most important components of intercultural competence in their initial stages of intercultural development.