This article explores how intercultural communication (ICC) and the notion of culture are framed in on-line promotional discourse of higher education (HE) ICC courses. It assays a specialised corpus consisting of 14,842 words from 43 course websites of master's programmes in ICC in the UK and the US – internationally, the two largest providers of such programmes. Linking corpus tools with a ‘situated meaning’ approach, the assay discloses that while a small number of courses recognize cultural ‘complexity’, culture is still very often reduced to an essentialised and static notion, despite increasing criticism against such an approach in ICC literature. ICC is valorised as a combination of desirable skills and knowledge conducive to efficient communication of various cultural groups and for those working in international arenas. Notable contrasts between the UK and US courses are distinguished with regard to the degree of associations with diversity-linked social categories. The lack of interpretive, critical, and constructivist positions on culture in promotional discourse is debated in the context of neoliberal discourse and the current thinking towards professional abilities dominant in Britain, North America, and other parts of the world.