Becoming globally competent through student mobility

Learning how to understand, communicate, and successfully collaborate with each other across cultures is increasingly important in different educational contexts. Important driving forces are the rapid expansion of science worldwide, the technological advances, the globalization of the economy, a growing international student population, and the increased mobility of labor. Globally competent students must have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that together enable them to understand, communicate, and work effectively outside one’s environment with those from different cultural backgrounds. While the need to acquire global competence to succeed in the academic and corporate world is only growing, the question remains how the development of global competence can be facilitated through education and what the benefits are for the graduates. This chapter discusses the development of global competence through formal education with a focus on international student mobility. Studies abroad, exchange programs, and internships have traditionally been utilized as the primary educational resources to immerse students in other cultures and instill global perspectives. The chapter summarizes theory and research on global competence by paying particular attention to existing pedagogical and methodological approaches for its development. This chapter offers suggestions for educators to improve students’ global competence and its integral elements such as investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas, and taking initiatives. We synthesize pedagogical findings on the benefits of students traveling physically or virtually to another country in pursuit of their education in relation to global competence development. The literature review aims at helping educators as they seek to understand and improve the global competencies of their students.