Intercultural Competence

 Welcome to the website of ”Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University's Institute for Intercultural Studies and Research (ISCI).

ISCI's goal is to offer a framework for developing intercultural competence, which is a must in today's global world.

Intercultural competence is the ability of a person to communicate adequately and to act efficiently in regard to a person belonging to a foreign culture. That implies to understand the 'stranger's' system of values,  to empathize with him/her, to know not only his/her language but also the significance of his/her gestures, intonation and the essential syumbols of his/her culture.

Cultural competence can be developed and improved through intercultural education, which can be understood both in a broad sense as  processing the intercultural life experience - gained through any type of contact with another culture - as well as in a narrow sense, as an organized form of acquiring intercultural comeptence.