Developing Intercultural Competence Through Short-Term Academic Exchange: Emotional Regulation and Identity Formation in a Multicultural Co-Living Context

Intercultural Competence (IC) has gained prominence as a strategic priority in higher education; however, the socio-emotional mechanisms through which it develops in structured short-term academic mobility remain underexplored. This qualitative study addresses this gap by examining the intercultural learning experiences of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from Trakia University, Bulgaria, who participated in a two-week winter academic program in Zhuhai, China, hosted by the Beijing Institute of Technology. Employing a triangulated qualitative design that combines semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and content analysis of institutional discourse, the study foregrounds emotional regulation as a central process underpinning intercultural competence development. The findings indicate that navigating culturally unfamiliar situations and “disorienting dilemmas” within a multicultural co-living environment facilitated stable behavioral adaptations, including active listening, reflective pausing, empathy, and tolerance. These adaptations supported emotional well-being by reducing uncertainty and fostering a sense of belonging and psychological safety within the multicultural learning community. Repeated emotional engagement with cultural difference enabled participants to internalize values of openness and mutual respect, contributing to the formation of intercultural attitudes that extended beyond the immediate learning context. These processes functioned as a feedback loop through which intercultural competence became integrated into participants’ emerging personal and professional identities. The study demonstrates that even short-term academic exchanges, when pedagogically structured and emotionally immersive, can foster meaningful intercultural learning, leadership readiness, and professional orientation. By highlighting emotional regulation as a pathway to emotional well-being (belonging and psychological safety) and to identity integration, the findings contribute to broader social science discussions on student well-being and identity formation in transnational higher education.