This 66 page document, available in both English and French is precisely what its title says it is, a clear statement, indeed a listing of what an interculturally effective person does or avoids that makes him or her effective, successful and content when living and working in non-native settings. With such a definition, the intercultural professional has in hand a tool for selecting, training, evaluating and assisting in the ongoing development of the expatriate or impatriate.

Though this tool is not brand new, it comes into our hands at a time when SIETAR is seriously challenged to define intercultural competence and assess our effectiveness as a profession.

The Center for Intercultural Learning researched both the literature on intercultural competence and conducted in vivo think tank sessions to create this profile. The results are presented as nine general level competencies which are then more concretely elaborated into thirty core competences leading to behaviorally specific indicators that permit practical application. The authors provide a handy summary of these factors in the introduction to the paper before devoting a short chapter to a more thorough exposition of each major competency.

Most interculturalists will immediately recognize the validity of the competencies assembled in this report. They will also recognize that it can be turned into many useful things from a simple checklist to a major curriculum. With such a comprehensive listing of competencies, one might ask what is left to do. The answer is—everything.

Application to specific target populations, tasks, professions and cultural envrionments require not only learning but true intercultural experience and expertise. This where the professionalism of the interculturalist comes into question. Awareness and intercultural learning are a useful basis, but the issue of true professionalism forces us to ask more penetrating questions: How many of these competencies do I embody? Am I in touch with the core values of my own culture as well as that of the host culture in enough depth to confidently inform and coach the person going abroad or arriving in a new enviornment?

Above all, having a list of such comprehensiveness presents us with the size of the challenge we face in developing standards for our profession and continuing to implement them and develop them in ourselves. It seems that with such a profile, it becomes considerabley easier for us to comprehend and face this challenge.

Thomas Vulpe, one of the chief architects of this research will be presenting at the SIETAR Europa Congress in Berlin.