Until recently, the few attempts to develop intercultural competence in German higher education institutions were limited to the initiative of individuals and were mostly targeted at selected groups, e.g. students participating in international master's programmes. Only recently have German universities started to acknowledge the fact that internationalization produces more challenges than organizing student or staff mobility, developing international degree programmes or creating marketing strategies for increasing the number of international students. In the course of this change, German higher education institutions have set up various projects that share a view of cultural diversity as a resource to be explored by the university as a whole. Local initiatives are supported at the national level by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), with its programmes to internationalize German higher education institutions. The "Qualification for Intercultural Communication" project (qualiko) at Hildesheim University is one of 46 projects funded by the DAAD over a period of two years from 2009 to 2011. With about 5,000 students enrolled, Hildesheim University is by German standards a rather small university, but at the same time it has a relatively high rate of international mobility, in particular owing to its largest faculty, Language and Information Studies. In contrast to most DAAD projects, which are run by international offices, qualiko is based within the Institute of Intercultural Communication and can build upon a certain expertise in the design of intercultural training programmes. This article presents the project outline and describes the intercultural training programme at Hildesheim University.