Student Cultural Competence Program Expands Global Reach

The Global Training Initiative awarded 850 certificates to students who completed the Developing Cultural Competency program during this past academic year. The DCC student certificate has blossomed in the virtual environment, increasing both in overall enrollment numbers and global reach.

More than 1,000 students from NC State and our partner overseas institutions enrolled in the DCC program this last academic year, which is a 400% increase over the last previous year.

“The global expansion and growth of the DCC program has allowed our NC State students to embark on their cultural competency journeys with a greater international diversity of students,” said Becky Cibulskis, the DCC program coordinator.

There are 32 countries represented in this year’s cohort of certificate earners. Some of the new partner universities with students joining the program for the first time include China Medical University, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Montpellier Business School in France and the Colombia Challenge Your Knowledge (CCYK) education network. The list of overseas partner universities continues to expand this upcoming summer and academic year with the addition of participants from Bina Nusantara International University in Indonesia, National University of Malaysia, Shanghai International Studies University and Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Global Learning For All NC State Students

The active expansion of the DCC student certificate program is part of a larger Global Engagement effort to promote Global Learning for All and provide high-impact global experiences to students. The GTI has been working with faculty and administration in various colleges to find ways to integrate part or all of the DCC curriculum into new or existing initiatives and programs for each college. The College of Engineering’s Office of Academic Affairs partnered with GTI to encourage first year students to participate in the program, and more than 100 applied for the program while 79 freshmen completed the requirements to earn the DCC certificate. Overall feedback from the students indicated they enjoyed the opportunity to connect in a meaningful way to their peers within the college as well as with students from across the globe. The GTI is working with other colleges, including the College of Education and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to promote student participation in the program.

Training NC State Graduate Facilitators

Following the exponential growth in participation from our overseas partner institutions, the GTI is focused on expanding the hiring and training of graduate students as facilitators for the program. The inaugural group of DCC facilitators graduated this past May and a new group of graduate students were recruited to start their training this summer.

“We’ve had the fortune of bringing on board several graduate students who can help provide our student participants with a range of cultural perspectives in our group discussions,” Cibulskis added. “I’m excited about the experiences and expertise this new group will bring to the table.”