Intercultural Learning for Students, Faculty, and Staff

The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) is the premier cross-culturally valid assessment for building cultural competence in your school or organization.

The IDI helps individuals, organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies understand how they approach cultural differences, and delivers an evidence-based framework for building cultural competence and engaging across those differences more effectively.

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Cultural Differences Are Part of Every Campus. How People Respond to Them Is Not the Same.

Cultural differences are present in every classroom, program, and department.Yet students, faculty, and staff often do not approach those differences in the same ways.

The IDI identifies how the people in your team, department, or program are currently navigating cultural differences. Having this knowledge makes actionable development possible and gives you the framework for building greater effectiveness and outcomes. Faculty, staff, and students who take the IDI have the opportunity to be provided with actionable steps to improve their intercultural development and interact more effectively both on and off campus.

What You Can Put to Work

Every IDI project can be tailored to the goals of your team or organization. Once participants complete the IDI, you can choose the approaches that best support what you are trying to achieve.
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  • Debriefs —  A Qualified Administrator facilitates a Debrief as part of the IDI experience, providing an opportunity to understand and discuss the results and connect them to your goals.
  • Individual Profiles — Each participant gains insight into their own approach to cultural differences.
  • Intercultural Development Plans — Included with each Individual Profile, the IDP provides tailored activities and reflections based on a participant’s IDI results.
  • Group Profiles — Provide team, department, or organization-level insight into how the group approaches cultural differences.

Why Academic Teams Choose the IDI

  • Backed by Research
    The IDI has been rigorously validated in large-scale studies and shown to be applicable regardless of a person’s cultural background. It has been cited in more than 100 academic publications, and it provides clear data for  leadership. 
  • Built for Any Campus Role
    Whether you are leading a department, supporting one, teaching a course,running a graduate program, or working with study abroad programs, there is a path to bring the IDI in.
  • Train Your Own Qualified Administrator, or Work With One
    Someone on your team can attend the IDI Qualifying Seminar, or you can partner with a Qualified Administrator already in the IDI community.
  • Development You Can Assess Over Time
    The IDI provides a validated measure of how people approach cultural differences, so you can establish a baseline for a cohort or department and track development from there.

Getting Started: From First Conversation to Measurable Development

  1. Tell Us About Your Goals
    Start with a conversation about what you want to accomplish. Whether you are preparing students for study abroad, strengthening intercultural learning across a campus, developing a faculty or student leadership cohort, or supporting an international program, we can help you determine how best to use the IDI.
  2. Become a Qualified Administrator or Connect with One
    You or someone on your team attends the IDI Qualifying Seminar to become licensed to administer the IDI, interpret results within the IDI framework, and facilitate Debriefs. Or, you can partner with a QA to provide these services for you.
  3. Administer the IDI
    Students, faculty, or staff complete the assessment online in about 15 to 20 minutes. The Qualified Administrator shares and explains the results through Individual and Group Debriefs.
  4. Support Ongoing Development
    The IDI provides a starting point for individual, program, and institutional development. Participants can use their Intercultural Development Plans to put new strategies into practice, while departments can use IDI results for broader learning initiatives. The IDI can be administered again to track changes over time, so what you bring back to a dean, provost, or grant committee is development and growth that was measured rather than assumed.

How Organizations Use the IDI

What Academic Teams See After Administering the IDI

  • A clear read on strengths and challenges.  students, faculty, and staff are strongest and where the greatest challenges sit, which makes for better decisions about where to put time and budget.
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  • A shared framework that continues beyond the program. Programs develop a common language for understanding cultural differences that continues to inform how faculty, staff, and students work together.
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  • Development that can be measured over time. The IDI can be used as a baseline for program goals and initiatives and then administered again later so growth is measured rather than assumed. This is particularly useful for students to measure growth from an initial baseline, alongside course and departmental learning objectives.

Join the QA Community

Qualified Administrators come from a wide range of fields, including education, student affairs, nonprofit leadership, consulting, coaching, training, and HR and learning. What brings them together is a commitment to helping individuals and organizations develop greater effectiveness in engaging across cultural differences.

What You Gain by Becoming an IDI QA

  • A globally recognized certification: The IDI is used worldwide across education, corporate, non-profit, and government sectors
  • The ability to administer the IDI: Use the IDI with individuals and groups as part of your professional, educational, consulting, or organizational work.
  • Training in the IDI framework: Learn how to interpret IDI results and facilitate Individual and Group Debriefs.
  • A credential you can take with you: Your QA status stays with you even if you change positions or organizations and does not require ongoing fees to remain active.
  • Ongoing support from the IDI office: Get dedicated support for your IDI work at no additional cost.
  • Resources to support your practice: Access the IDI Help Center, including 200+ articles, recorded webinars, and QA-only resources.
  • A community of Qualified Administrators: Connect with other professionals using the IDI.
Join the QA CommunitySee Upcoming Qualifying Seminars

Success with the IDI

See what users of the IDI say about their experience!

“The IDI should be a central component of any in-depth intercultural training, cultural self-awareness program, DEI training, or anti-racism work. It is a valid and reliable tool that allows for individualized training approaches, tailored to each person’s specific needs. Because the IDI presents the stages of intercultural development in a non-judgmental way, it avoids the defensiveness pitfalls of many other approaches to developing cultural self-awareness and skills.”

Ann Gross

Professor Emeritus of Speech Communication, Napa Valley College

“As a global DEI leader, I’ve leveraged several cultural platforms to support an immersive learning approach. However, the IDI outperforms in assisting teams and organizations understand cultural gaps with a customized profile and developmental plan. I will continue to administer the IDI in driving equitable business priorities.”

Neo Thurston, Jr

Inclusion and Diversity, Best Buy

“The IDI provides a base framework from which to developmentally understand one’s relationship with difference and the strategies we use to navigate them. It’s so sound and clear when used as part of a coaching or intercultural competency growth program that I really don’t use other options.”

Almendra Staffa-Healey

Co Founder & Director, Intercultural Understanding

Not Ready to Attend the Qualifying Seminar?  Work With a QA.

Some organizations prefer to work with an external Qualified Administrator who can administer the IDI, interpret results within the IDI framework, and facilitate Individual or Group Debriefs. You can search the QA Database or contact our office for help finding a Qualified Administrator who fits your needs.

Bring the IDI to Your DepartmentJoin the QA Community

Questions We Hear Most

Can the IDI be used for grading or academic evaluation?

No. The IDI is developmental. It does not tell you whether someone is good or bad at working with others, and it cannot be used to grade students or evaluate faculty and staff performance.

How long does the assessment take?

Most people finish in 15 to 20 minutes online.

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Do I need my department’s budget approval to get started?

Initial conversations and information are at no cost. We can help you understand the options and what each one involves, so you have what you need to make the request.

How long is the Qualifying Seminar?

The Qualifying Seminar is held virtually and takes place over three half days (approximately five hours). Prior to the seminar, you there is about three hours of pre-work that you can complete according to your preferred schedule.

What does it take to become a Qualified Administrator?

Registering for and completing the online IDI Qualifying Seminar. Once you have completed the seminar, you are officially licensed to administer the IDI to groups and individuals.

Do I need to become a Qualified Administrator myself?

No. Every IDI administration involves a Qualified Administrator, but that person does not have to be you. You can train someone on your team through the IDI Qualifying Seminar, or work with a Qualified Administrator already in the IDI community.