It is urgent and necessary to implement international understanding education in local application-oriented colleges and universities. Improving the international competitiveness of talents and cultivating global citizens is one of the goals of higher education. This paper discussed the problems of international understanding education in local application-oriented colleges and universities, including weak policy orientation, insufficient practical exploration, aphasia of national culture, etc. It is recommended to implement the international understanding education from two ways: subject penetration and project-based professional courses. In addition, the introduction of Chinese culture cannot be ignored to prevent the absence of national culture in cross-cultural communication.