Views on how to balance the needs of humans and the environment differ widely. Global citizenship supports the transition to a sustainable society as the substantial and complex challenges facing the world transcend national borders. Global citizenship is a key response in contemporary higher education which aims to prepare students to address present and future challenges. We outline the design, international virtual collaboration, for an undergraduate course to develop students' global citizenship competencies. International virtual collaboration works as an open-source instrument that provides an inclusive, equitable and low environmental impact solution to the internationalization of university students at home. We explain an iterative Participatory Action Research methodology to develop and enhance the present and anticipated positive societal impact of the course. The positive societal impacts include reduced environmental impact (by reduced need to travel), improved partnerships (by better understanding of cultural differences that may make working together across borders difficult), quality education (by improved educational design and approach), equality and diversity (by improved access, lower cost, for education that develops global citizenship competencies).

The development of the capabilities necessary to foster global citizenship in undergraduate university students is an important goal of many higher education institutions. We assess the impact of intercultural virtual collaboration (IVC) courses on the three key competencies of students—collaborative skills, ethical and social responsibility, and intercultural proficiency—that underpin global citizenship (GC). We analyse pre- and post-course test data related to the learning goals of three IVCs between the universities in the Netherlands and Japan, Spain, and the USA, respectively. Using one-tailed paired sample t-tests, we find statistically significant improvements in each of these competencies and conclude that IVC supports the development of GC in university students, even if they have prior international experience.