As global interdependence continues to grow, higher education institutions (HEIs) are placing an increasing emphasis on preparing students for diverse workplaces and global challenges through comprehensive internationalization strategies (Mansilla Qiang, 2003). These strategies include outward mobility, such as study abroad, and Internationalization at Home (IaH), which integrates international students into campus life to foster cross-cultural learning (Nilsson, 2003). Because only 3% of U.S. undergraduates participate in study abroad (IIE, 2022), most rely on IaH to develop intercultural competence. With more than one million international students enrolled in U.S. institutions (IIE, 2024), understanding how intercultural friendships form and contribute to student learning remains essential for advancing HEIs internationalization goals.This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how intercultural friendships between U.S.-born and international students developed and how these relationships shaped U.S.-born students’ intercultural competence. Grounded in social constructivism, Bridging Social Capital (Putnam, 2000), and Deardorff’s (2006) Intercultural Competence Process Model, the study drew on paired interviews, artifacts, and Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) data to explore the conditions that foster mutual learning.Findings revealed that although cultural differences initially informed students’ perceptions, long-term friendships were sustained by shared values, mutual trust, and reciprocal support. Off-campus interactions and informal social spaces have emerged as key contexts for intercultural learning, enabling students to negotiate cultural differences, practice adaptive communication, and deepen their self-awareness. U.S.-born participants, children of first generation immigrants, described increased cultural curiosity, empathy, identity affirmation, and confidence engaging across differences. International students reported greater belonging, expanded social networks, improved communication skills, and increased comfort navigating U.S. culture. IDI results showed that all U.S.-born participants overestimated their intercultural competence, underscoring the need for guided opportunities that translate openness into more developed intercultural behaviors.The study’s implications underscore the ongoing responsibility of HEIs to intentionally foster environments that promote intercultural engagement. Intercultural competence does not emerge automatically from diverse campuses; rather, institutions must create low-pressure spaces for organic interaction, embed intercultural learning within academic and co-curricular structures, and treat internationalization as a campus-wide commitment. Overall, the study demonstrates that everyday intercultural friendships serve as powerful drivers of intercultural development and significantly support institutional internationalization goals.
Yaruby L. Petit-Frere (Thu,) studied this question.