Cultural & Linguistic Competence - IHE | National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

Higher Education

Institutions of higher education (IHEs) can honor college students’ identities, communicate in ways that make sense to them, and support and promote equitable policies and practices.

Acknowledging and respecting cultural, linguistic, and community identities of students and their families can help optimize educational experiences and attainment for students of all backgrounds. IHEs can bring awareness of diverse cultural identities and an understanding about differences among students to create culturally responsive learning environments. Institutional policies can explicitly build in supports and practices that seek to eliminate disparities and barriers that students may face related to their cultural identities.

Ethnically and racially diverse students represent almost half of U.S. students enrolled in IHEs.

Cultural competence is an important factor in enabling IHEs to serve students from all cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

References

Featured Resources

Using Supportive Services to Advance Community College Equity Goals

Explores what types of supportive services are being provided across community colleges in the ACE-UP community of practice, what challenges college staff and partners have faced, and where opportunities exist to advance equity through the provision of supportive services.

Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Climate Assessment Toolkit

Complements existing campus climate assessment tools and offers reflection-based and action-oriented guidance, strategies, and tools informed by the TRHT approach to support institutional transformation efforts.

Free to Learn

In the dynamic landscape of education, where every day brings new challenges and opportunities for growth, educators and school administrators hold an immense responsibility to foster environments where learning flourishes—spaces that are not only safe and inclusive but also vibrant with the diverse identities of each student.

How Institutions Can Increase Social Mobility for Key Populations through Strategic Data Use

Aims to bring awareness to the barriers that impede institutions’ ability to establish strong data use practices and culture while highlighting bright spots of high-impact data practices at various institution types. Equally as important, it elevates clear roles for key stakeholders to support institutions in tackling the imperative of closing economic disparities and better serving learners.

Advancing What Works to Intentionally Serve Latino Students: Opportunities for Action – 2024

This compilation identifies evidence-based programs at the forefront of improving higher educational achievement for Latinos. These programs emphasize cultural responsiveness and take asset-based approaches to intentionally serving Latinos, as well as other post-traditional students, in five key areas.

Race and Economic Mobility: College Value at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Our latest brief examines economic outcomes for students who complete their degrees at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). The analysis finds that graduates from HSIs have similar wages and earnings premiums to their peers at other institutions, despite decades of underinvestment from state and federal policymakers. However, borrowers from HSIs owe an average of 80% of their loan balance, while non-HSI borrowers owe just 69%.