Building intercultural competence in Indonesian engineering education through faculty development, institutional support, and teaching innovation

Abstract

Globalization and increasing cultural diversity in higher education demand innovative teaching approaches that support the development of intercultural competence. This study develops and tests a process-oriented model examining how undergraduate engineering students’ perceptions of faculty development support and institutional support are associated with students’ cultural intelligence, intercultural competence, perceptions of interculturally informed teaching practices, intercultural student engagement, and student learning outcomes. Survey data were collected from 814 undergraduate engineering students in Indonesia and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that students who perceived stronger faculty development support reported higher levels of cultural intelligence, which was positively associated with intercultural competence and greater perceived implementation of interculturally informed teaching practices. Students who perceived more interculturally informed teaching practices also reported higher intercultural student engagement, which was positively associated with higher self-reported student learning outcomes. These findings provide an integrated perspective on how undergraduate engineering students perceive the relationships among institutional support, faculty practices, intercultural development, and learning outcomes, offering practical insights for supporting more inclusive and globally responsive engineering education.