Cultural Competence For Students
Global Skills Training for students' cultural competence development
Prep For A Global Workforce
The ability to demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures is one of the key skills sought by recruiters and hiring managers.
“Having these conversations helped me dispel misconceptions about other cultures and share perspectives on my own culture. It was designed as a respectful, judgment-free environment and opened up my mind to the cultures of the world.”
DCC Spotlight: College of Engineering
Developing Cultural Competence Certificate
The DCC program aims to improve students’ cultural competence and cross-cultural awareness by facilitating virtual exchanges among participants. The course is designed to provide a theoretical framework for understanding culture, learning about cultural dimensions, and improving cultural competence.
The program also introduces cultural skills that are immediately applicable to activities on and off campus. The certificate program appeals to students in all academic disciplines and prepares students to:
- Identify their own cultural preferences and have the tools to understand the preferences of others
- Promote cultural awareness in personal and professional settings
- Implement strategies for working effectively across cultural differences
Program FAQs
Who can participate?
The Developing Cultural Competence Student Certificate program is open to all currently enrolled students at North Carolina State University, regardless of their degree program or graduate/undergraduate status. The program is also open to students currently studying at NC State’s various global partner institutions.
What’s covered in the course?
The virtual exchange experience includes four 90-minute live Zoom-facilitated discussions, independent learning, personal reflection, and a group presentation component. Global participants are enrolled in a shared learning management system for shared content and collaboration.
- Week 1: Introducing the learning community and connecting favorite traditions to cultural identities
- Week 2: Understanding personal cultural identities and forming cultural knowledge research groups
- Week 3: Identifying cultural gaps and group presentations
- Week 4: Considering how cultural skills bridge gaps and applying those skills to common scenarios
How much time does this program take?
The Developing Cultural Competence program requires, on average, 10 hours of time over the course of the program:
- Four 90-minute live facilitated discussions offered via Zoom Web Conferencing (6 hours)
- Weekly self-paced lessons and individual assignments to be completed online (4+ hours)
Students should plan to spend up to 3 hours per week on related assignments for the 4-week-long DCC programs.
When are sessions offered?
The Global Training Initiative aims to offer at least one session of the DCC course each fall, spring and summer semester. DCC sessions are designed to meet four weeks in a row, often all in the same calendar month. The listed times are in the Raleigh, NC time zone (Eastern Standard/Daylight US).
How can I pay the USD$100 program fee?
Please check with your academic advisor or program director to see if a sponsorship exists for you. If so, simply choose “Sponsor Pay” on the application form and fill in the Sponsorship code or contact information related to your program.
- Verified global partner students may also pay the fee directly via Flywire wire payment using the instructions provided upon acceptance to the program.
- NC State students may pay the fee directly via the University Controller’s Office Non-Student Credit Card Payments webpage using the instructions provided upon acceptance to the program.
- NC State or overseas students who are not sponsored can email the GTI to be considered for a scholarship.
What is the English language requirement?
All course materials, lessons, instruction and discussions are led in English, so some degree of English proficiency is required to succeed in this program. DCC applicants don’t need to provide proof of English language ability; however, we recommend the following minimum English levels:
- TOEFL – iBT: 85 total points
- Previous Paper Version (PBT): 563
- CET 6: 480
- IELTS: 6.5
- TOEIC: 800
- Duolingo: 100
Explore the World From Home
Engaging the Wolfpack World
Interest in the Developing Cultural Competence student certificate program has grown exponentially since its inception in 2018 when 9 students completed the program on campus.
