Skip to Main Content

Intercultural Competence: Diversity in Higher Education

Guide for Faculty Cultural Competency

Flags from around the world positioned as a globe

"EoP-Globe-peace-PHOTOS-OLGA-LEDNICHENKO-PEACE-WORLD-IMAGES" by Olga Lednichenko is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Intercultural Learning at the University of Arizona describes how college learning outcomes can be coupled with institutional diversity to create a learning environment that gives students knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for achieving those outcomes.

Cultural Awareness Self-Assessment

To begin to assess your cultural self-awareness, ask yourself several questions:

  • What are some of my core beliefs and how have they been culturally influenced?
  • How would I describe my worldview?
  • How would I describe some of the students’ worldviews?
  • How might these differ from the ways in which I see the world?
  • How much do I know about my students’ cultural backgrounds?
  • What information am I missing and how can I get that information?
  • How can I incorporate my students’ worldviews into my course materials?
  • What worldviews are demonstrated through the course materials I currently use?
  • How can I enhance those materials so that other worldviews are represented?