International Community Service sebagai Ruang Pengembangan Kompetensi Public Relations dan Komunikasi Lintas Budaya di USIM Malaysia

Abstract

This international community service activity describes the implementation of international community service within the International Leadership Mobility Program at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), held from 3 to 10 May 2026, and analyzes the activity as a learning space for the development of Public Relations (PR) competencies and intercultural communication among Communication Science students. A descriptive qualitative approach with a participatory-reflective orientation was applied. Data were obtained through participant observation, activity documentation, reflective notes, and informal conversations with participants and parties involved in the program. The results show that community service, networking, public speaking, cultural interaction, and academic activities provided opportunities to practice relationship building, audience adaptation, active listening, teamwork, message development, community engagement, and responsible institutional representation. Intercultural interaction also encouraged participants to simplify messages, confirm understanding, and adjust verbal and nonverbal communication to different audiences. In this activity, competency development is understood as an experiential learning process rather than a quantitatively measured increase in competence. The main limitations were the short duration and dense schedule, which restricted deeper interaction and did not allow quantitative measurement of community outcomes. Future programs should strengthen community needs identification, structured reflection, partner feedback, and measurable communication objectives.