Internationalisation has become a major concern of higher education institutions (HEI) in the last decades, featuring as a goal in the mission statements of most universities, whether large or small, and irrespective of their market position. As globalisation has intensified, universities have felt the need (and the challenge) to adapt to a rapidly changing world where knowledge is created, transmitted and stored through previously unknown modalities and at speeds once unimaginable, and where new competences are essential in order to live and work in society (Maringe & Fosket, 2010; Ryan, 2013).
In this context, particularly in the framework of the Bologna Declaration (1999) stressing mutual exchange of know-how and the vital role of HE for ensuring sustainable development, internationalisation has been regarded as a strategic response and a priority for European institutions. Yet the way the internationalisation of higher education is perceived and addressed differs greatly from country to country based on priorities, culture, history, politics and resources (Knight, 2004). In some cases, internationalisation is viewed mainly as a service to export, whilst in other cases the focus falls on the acquisition and development of enhanced global perspectives and intercultural competence. Recruitment of international students and international linkages, partnerships and projects have been the most common internationalisation strategies in Europe and abroad (Altbach & Knight, 2007). However, more recently an increasing number of HEI have recognised the transformational potential of internationalisation as a means to promote the development in all students of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that will equip them to live and work effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly connected society. These include communicating effectively across cultures, considering issues from a variety of perspectives, working collaboratively with others, and acting responsibly towards solving some of the world’s greatest problems (Clifford & Montgomery, 2011; Montgomery, 2013). Consequently, some universities are now actively engaged in designing internationalised curricula by incorporating international, intercultural, and/or global dimensions into the content, learning outcomes, assessment tasks, teaching methods, and support services of programmes of study (Jones & Killick, 2007; Leask, 2015).
In Portugal internationalisation has become a major buzzword in the last couple of years leading to the elaboration of a set of recommendations by the Ministry of Education and Science that define a common national strategy for HEI (MES, 2014). This strategy focuses on institutional collaboration, mobility, foreign language proficiency and branding, a market tactic to promote the status and profile of these institutions across national borders. Internationalisation is then at the forefront of academic and political debate, and Portuguese HEI are currently facing key issues about their own responses to the forces of globalisation and the pressures to internationalise.
With this context in mind, this study aims to provide a critical reflection on the internationalisation approaches, rationales and strategies envisioned and executed by the University of Aveiro (UA), a public HEI in Portugal, in order to identify the possibilities and constraints for the development of an integrated and sustainable internationalisation approach that goes well beyond student mobility and partnerships. More particularly, it aims to: (i) identify the institutional strategies carried out under an internationalisation perspective; (ii) identify the representations that UA stakeholders (i.e., the coordinating and government bodies, the academic staff, and the students) have on internationalisation; (iii) understand the main motivations that lie behind the internationalisation agenda. The study focuses on the case of the Department of Education and Psychology (DEP) of the UA, in an attempt to understand how to internationalise teacher education programmes and prepare pre-primary and primary teachers to respond adequately to issues of diversity, sustainability and social justice (Zhao, 2010).

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