Example of inspiring practice: cultivating intercultural competence through Semester at Sea

In an increasingly globalised world, higher education seeks to develop students’ intercultural competence, yet international exposure alone does not guarantee meaningful learning. This article presents Semester at Sea (SAS) as an example of inspiring practice in intercultural education and examines how its multi-country study abroad model supports cumulative intercultural learning through intentionally designed experiential pedagogy. Drawing on the authors’ experiences across multiple voyages (2017–2024) and informed by Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, the article highlights four pedagogical features of the programme: shipboard education anchored in Global Studies, faculty-led field classes, comparative experiential projects, and structured post-port reflection. Together, these practices enable students to engage in repeated intercultural encounters, compare experiences across contexts, and reflect critically on their assumptions over time. The article shows how SAS moves beyond travel as exposure by embedding preparation, experience, comparison, and reflection within a continuous learning process. In doing so, it offers transferable insights for educators seeking to design study abroad programmes that foster sustained intercultural development.