An Age for Intercultural Competence

Along with the rise of Australia’s international status in education，the number of international students coming to study in Australia is on the increase.Being the largest university in Australia in terms of international student intake，Monash University hosted over 20 000 international students in 2012.This number takes up about one third of the entire student population in Monash(63 000).Over 31 000 students in Monash University were born overseas，and there are over 30 000 students speaking languages other than English(LOTE)，of whom over 4 000 speak Chinese at home^[1].In light of the language backgrounds，over half of the total student population is bilingual.In career development prospective，these bilingual students will very much likely engage in careers in countries other than English speaking ones.It is already prominent that Monash sees it alumni community spreading across the globe.With recent years’graduates returning to the Asian nations，the Asian language student cohort is gaining heavier weighting on the scale.

In a non-native linguistic and cultural environment，students who wish to engage in a global career market are confronted with a realization that the world is shrinking，through rapid transport means，satellite communication and the instant flow of information via the internet.Therefore，in a global job market，the main demand for a university graduate asks for，apart from necessary professional knowledge，intercultural communication competence， which includes language proficiency.^[2]To both domestic and international students，the maintenance of native language and acquisition of foreign language have become equally important to their professional knowledge learning.