Abstract
In an increasingly interconnected yet socioeconomically fragmented world, social work education must equip practitioners with robust intercultural competence to address complex global challenges in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has emerged as an innovative, equitable pedagogical model fostering cross-border cooperation without requiring physical mobility. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the impact of an eight-week embedded COIL intervention on the intercultural competence and global partnership readiness (SDG 17) of undergraduate social work students across two partner institutions located in the United Kingdom and South Africa (N = 138). Utilizing a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design, intercultural competence was assessed using the Assessment of Intercultural Competence (AIC) instrument alongside a validated Global Partnership Readiness Scale. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed statistically significant gains in the intervention group compared to the control group across intercultural awareness, communicative adaptability, and collaborative problem-solving (p < .001, partial η² = .28). Furthermore, participants in the COIL cohort demonstrated heightened self-efficacy in operationalizing SDG 17 targets through transnational community engagement. These findings underscore the viability of COIL as an inclusive digital pedagogy that bridges the North-South educational divide, operationalizes relational learning, and advances global sustainability objectives within professional social work curricula.
