Intercultural contact and competencies of tertiary students

Abstract

In the last decade there has been rapid growth of the New Zealand export education industry. However, research has shown that having a large international student body present on campus is insufficient to promote cross-cultural interactions. This study explores the intercultural competencies of, and interactions between 88 students enrolled at a New Zealand tertiary institution. Interaction was found to primarily occur between co-ethnic students, yet when students did interact in cross-ethnic groups it tended to be for academic rather than social activities. The attitudes and perceptions of both student groups regarding each other were established to be generally positive; suggesting the lack of interaction is not attitudinally based. International students were more open-minded but scored lower on social initiative competencies than domestic students. The findings from this study suggest that the low levels of interaction between students are related to social self-efficacy in a cross-cultural context.