Intergroup Contact Fosters Intercultural Competence among Global Service-Learners through Appreciation of Differences and Awareness of Structural Inequalities

Global service-learning fosters intercultural competence development. This study was grounded in the intergroup contact theory, which explains the causes of bias against one another and how intergroup contact helps negate those perceptions. We employed a comparative census between alumni of Iowa State University (ISU) and Makerere University (MAK) who participated in the summer school garden service-learning program, 2006–2019 through the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Uganda. The study examined how alumni’s intercultural aspects changed as measured by self-perceived appreciation of differences (SAD) and awareness of structural inequalities (ASI). A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 274 alumni through Qualtrics where 94.2% responded. We found that ISU alumni had greater changes in their knowledge, attitudes, and awareness about intercultural aspects than MAK alumni. The diversity constructs of race, ethnicity, and gender accounted for differences whereby white and female ISU alumni had greater changes in their intercultural competence than alumni of color and males respectively. Also, binational housing influenced the differences, implying that service-learning programs should promote cross-cultural binational living arrangements for students. Intergroup contact through SAD can reduce cultural distance and ASI can foster alumni philanthropy, contributing to solving complex community problems such as undernutrition and illiteracy through school gardens. Global service-learning programs require faculty familiar with challenges in international education and culture of communities with which students conduct their service-learning. Faculty should facilitate pre-departure orientations to minimize students’ cultural shock during immersion in new communities and should also assist in post-service-learning program reflections to minimize reverse culture shocks.