In line with recent internationalization and employability strategies, universities in the UK-and other places around the world-promote the development of intercultural competence as either an integral part of degree programmes or as a stand-alone component. The need for intercultural competence is often justified by explicit references to ‘globalization’: Students or ‘global graduates’, it is claimed, should be prepared for the exigencies of a multilingual and multicultural world in general, and competition on the international labour market in particular. The emphasis on outcomes and performance is thus paradigmatic for a wider strand of Competence-Based Forms of Education (CBE) that aligns education with the demands of the business world. In this chapter, I discuss the questionable assumption that there is a generalizable ‘competence’ with subcomponents that enables individuals to ‘deal’ with ‘difference’ and ‘otherness’, and that this can be codified, taught, acquired and, at least potentially, assessed. Such a view, I argue, prioritizes action over reflection and instrumental over communicative reasoning. It, therefore, stands in stark contrast to the idea of intercultural learning as a reflective engagement with difference. Moreover, the emphasis on flexibility and adaptability is based on a misunderstanding of lay normativity itself. Such a perspective does not sufficiently engage with the reasons individuals have for being, acting and relating to each other the way they do and is, therefore, ill-equipped to bring about transformative learning. The chapter concludes by exploring a potentially more desirable view of intercultural education for the context of higher education. © The Editor(s) and The Author(s) 2016.
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