A systematic review of research on fostering intercultural competence via service-learning

This review of research examines the potential of fostering intercultural competence among college students via service-learning. Adhereing to PRISMA, I screened and coded studies published between 2011 and 2024 utilizing the database of Web of Science and Scopus. Of the 1362 articles identified, 20 were included in this review. The selected articles were analyzed in terms of their publication year, region/country, research methodology, service-learning characteristics, and the research themes. The findings indicate growing global interest—especially in the U.S., Europe, and Asia—since the late 2010s, with most research employing qualitative methods. Service-learning was most actively implemented within the field of education, with curriculum-based programs outnumbering extracurricular ones. Intercultural service-learning exposed students to diverse cultural and linguistic communities, broadening their intercultural understanding and reducing ethnocentric biases. It further strengthened discipline-specific expertise and long-term civic engagement.