Which interculturality? Intercultural bilingual education and intercultural competence in Chilean higher education policy

Interculturality has become a central concern of educational systems seeking to respond to cultural plurality, indigenous presence, and migration-driven diversity. This conceptual essay examines two influential but historically distinct approaches – Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) and Intercultural Competencies (IC) – and their relevance for Chilean higher education. While IBE emerged in relation to indigenous peoples, language rights, and school-based educational polices, IC developed within the context of competency-based education, internationalisation, and global citizen agendas. In Chile, IBE has largely remained a bounded and unevenly implemented policy field, whereas IC offers a more adaptable framework for university curricula, teaching, and assessment. However, IC is insufficient when framed as a neutral or purely technical set of skills. The article proposes a critical reformulation of IC for higher education, informed by selected concerns highlighted in IBE debates, particularly those related to linguistic hierarchy, Indigenous recognition, epistemic exclusion, and structural inequality. Drawing on relevant literature and Chilean examples, the analysis suggests that IC provides a broad curricular scaffold in higher education, while IBE exposes the limits of depoliticised interculturality. The article concludes that Chilean higher education requires an intercultural framework that is institutionally viable, educationally scalable, and critically attentive to power, history, and justice.