Pedagogical Pathways to Inclusion: Advancing Cultural Diversity in Kuwaiti Higher Education Institutions

Globalization has heightened the need for higher education institutions to cultivate culturally inclusive environments that prepare students for increasingly diverse societies. This study examines the role of higher education institutions in Kuwait in promoting cultural diversity from the perspective of faculty members. Grounded in James Banks’ five-dimensional model of multicultural education, the research operationalized these dimensions across four institutional domains: administration, faculty members, curricula and activities, and obstacles. A quantitative descriptive design was used, and data were collected through a validated questionnaire administered to 97 faculty members across universities and higher education institutes. The results indicated a moderate overall institutional role in promoting cultural diversity (M = 3.57), with curricula and activities rated highest and faculty engagement rated lowest. Significant differences appeared by academic specialization, favoring humanities faculty, while gender and workplace showed no statistically significant effects. These findings reveal a gap between ethical commitment and pedagogical practice, reflecting limited intercultural training and the absence of systematic diversity measurement mechanisms. The study validates Banks’ framework in a Gulf context and offers an empirically tested model for assessing multicultural education in non-Western systems. Implications include the need for institutionalized intercultural pedagogy training, development of diversity dashboards, and integrating inclusion metrics into accreditation standards. Overall, the findings highlight that cultural diversity in Kuwaiti higher education is ethically supported yet structurally underdeveloped.