Establishing evidence of intercultural competence as learning outcomes of outbound student mobility programs for undergraduate participants

Outbound student mobility programs are instrumental to Japan’s higher education policy. However, the national policy discourse among the stakeholders tended to overlook evidence when the literature review identified a gap. This study intended to fill this evidence gap by uncovering evidence of intercultural competence as a learning outcome of outbound mobility programs. This study is a theory-driven qualitative method to establish students’ learning outcomes as a part of GSC’s degree requirements to participate in studies in Malaysia and Thailand. This qualitative analysis confirmed cultural self-awareness and related intercultural competence domains as learning outcomes of this outbound student mobility program in non-traditional destinations. The findings from this study contributed to filling the current evidence gap in the literature on learning outcomes of outbound student mobility programs among Japanese undergraduate participants, while a need for theoretical reconciliation between young adulthood and intercultural competence emerged from this analysis.