Intercultural communication competence: exploring supervision experiences of international postgraduate students and academic supervisors in Malaysia

Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) is increasingly recognised as a critical factor in academic supervision, particularly within internationalised higher education. In Malaysia, where international postgraduate enrolment continues to grow in line with national goals outlined in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015–2025), supervision often occurs within complex intercultural interfaces. However, empirical research remains limited on how ICC is understood and enacted by both International Postgraduate Students (IPS) and Local Academic Supervisors (LAS). This study addresses this gap by exploring the lived experiences and interpretations of ICC in supervision across selected public and private universities in Malaysia. Guided by Dalib’s (2017) adapted Intercultural Competence Model and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the study employed a qualitative interpretivist design. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 IPS and 15 LAS across selected public and private institutions in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A hybrid thematic analysis using NVivo 14 revealed two overarching themes in informants' understanding of ICC: Attitude and Mutual Understanding. Findings suggest that IPS develop a more intentional and experiential understanding of ICC, while LAS show more implicit and variable interpretations shaped by discipline, background, and prior exposure. The study contributes a relational, context-sensitive account of ICC and calls for stronger institutional support for reciprocal engagement.