This article focuses on international design education and the benefits of combining design thinking with cross-cultural empathy, in addressing 'wicked' global problems in our society. There is a lack of cross-cultural design thinking-specific approaches in international education literature. This study aims to cover the main contributors to the development of design thinking, Cultural Intelligence (CQ), and explore their different views. It discusses the metric of CQ, its importance in the world today and how to improve CQ, through cross-cultural design workshops and units that deal with 'wicked' global problems and scenarios. The approach involves a combination of design thinking methods with an empathy framework, to seek meaningful participation in the entire design process for a socially complex environment. Furthermore, the results reveal that, co-design with cross-cultural empathy relates to the increasing development of CQ. The findings are discussed and related to the implications for the use of design thinking in international higher education.