Exploring Thai Engineering Students’ Perceived Attitudes Toward Intercultural Competence in Internship Abroad: A Pre-Study Perspective

Existing research has focused heavily on how internship experiences increase engineering students’ employment opportunities, their transition to new roles of early-career engineers in the workplace, their perception of engineering and their motivation to study engineering. Arguably, the importance of acquiring knowledge and skills in communicating effectively and appropriately with those from different cultures has been neglected in engineering education research. To address a research gap, this qualitative preliminary study aims to explore Thai engineering students’ attitudes toward intercultural competence as a result of their internship programs abroad. The findings offer new insights into Thai engineering students’ attitudes of openness, which finally help promote mutual understanding and appreciation of cultural differences. The study has a range of implications for considering organizing a pre-arrival orientation for Thai engineering students before their departure. This study also offers suggestions for further research into including intercultural competence in engineering education in different countries.