This article will present two basic concepts of culture which both have a long tradition and both are currently used in discussing cultural diversity. I call them the container concept and the network concept. The container concept was widely criticised and the criticism led to the development of new models. These models are basically compatible with the network concept, but take it further in several aspects, especially with regard to the question of how cultural ascriptions lead to differences in power allocation in society. If we have new models of intercultural competence, this should be reflected in curricula and classroom practice. So the last section of the article takes a closer look at two curricular documents and presents a practical example of dealing with cultural diversity in a more inclusive manner.

The presented diagnostic study concerning intercultural competence was carried out in the pedagogical context of intercultural education. The research place was chosen purposively: it resulted from the intercultural character of Białystok. In the interwar period that the study refers to, the biggest national groups in the town were Poles and Jews. There were also Belarusians, Russians, Germans and Tatars. As part of the analysis of intercultural competence of students from Poland and Israel I focused on the respondents’ declarations concerning their knowledge of the social structure of pre-war Białystok. Then, I determined what motivates secondary school students to learn about the past. Developing the competence in the affective/motivational area is of key importance in intercultural communication. Identifying the reasons why secondary school students from Poland and Israel find it worth learning about the history of their ancestors is as important as knowledge of the history of our cultural group and other cultures. It was also important to determine the level of Polish youths’ readiness to communicate with students from Israel, and vice versa. Diagnosing the students’ competence allows educators to plan adequate educational activities aimed at broadening intercultural competence, to strengthen the existing resources, to improve the weak points, and fill in the gaps.

Technology-enhanced international virtual exchanges (IVE), or Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), provide educators and students with the access and tools to connect with the world through collaboration with colleagues and peers in a global context (SUNY COIL Center, “Welcome”, n.d.a). In the IVE courses, students in different countries work together to broaden not only their academic knowledge, but also digital literacy, critical thinking, problemsolving, teamwork, and communication skills (Werner, 2015). In this study, technology-enhanced IVE are introduced and the benefits of IVE for educators and students are explored. Some concrete examples are also shared of how two professors from Ukraine and the United States reflected on the course of collaboration with our French partner professor to co-plan and co-teach a technology-enhanced IVE course in order to offer sustainable international education and provide students with the opportunities to gain diverse cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, and cross-disciplinary experiences, to demonstrate communication skills using technology, and to improve their intercultural competence.

The article deals with the phenomenon of intercultural communication. Presented are the results of the survey method aimed at analysing the level of formation of intercultural competence of Ukrainian VSPU students living abroad. Differences and similarities in the students’ intercultural communication experience have been revealed by comparison. The ranking method was used to classify the obtained data when analysing the students’ life experiences abroad. The research results were presented graphically in charts and tables using descriptive statistics.