Becoming International: academic perceptions and practices of internationalising higher education

Author(s):

Sue Robson(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 11 A, Internationalisation: Student Experience

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-Theatre R

Chair:

Monne Wihlborg

Contribution

Universities around the world are changing rapidly in response to the influences of globalisation, advances in technology, and the increasing imperatives, financial and cultural, to 'become international'. Internationalisation has become n agenda of ket strategic importance for many higher education institutions, often assoicated with success in terms of global rankings, research funding, and international staff and student recruitment. The top 100 universities are ranked on 'international outlook' , defined by diversity on campus in terms of ratio of international to domestic students, and the extent to which academics collaborate with international research partners (Times Higher Educuation World Rankings). The Council of Europe urges member states to foster 'an international culture' by enrolling students from third countries, by fostering exchange and mobility of students and staff, projects and knowledge, and by engaging in academic and research cooperation. Internationalisationis considered to be necessary tbecause of the requirements of the European labour market and the need to increase European innovation capacity (Ritzen and Marconi, 2011). Internationalisation of outlook and culture present possibilities for transformative institutuional change in higher education (Killick, 2012; Robson, 2011). Key to this are academic staff, and the ways in which they enact an international outlook in their professional roles (Debowski, 2012) and contribute to the collective culture, vision, and imagination of their institution. Yet despite being key players in the process of internationalisation, academics have been undervalued in the debate (Teekens, 2006). The European Parliament Report on the Internationalisation of Higher Education (2015) notes that to realise the potential of internationalisation, a shift of emphasis is required from 'how many' international students, staff and agreements are secured by institutions, or how many places are gained in the rankings, to more qualitative considerations, such as how to achieve 'internationalisation at home'. If universities are to take seriously their mission to become international, they must also ensure that their academic staff possess the skills and knowledge, aptitude and mindsets that contribute to an international outlook (Sanderson, 2011; Teekens, 2006), and a global identity. This paper investigates how acadmeics percieve internationalisation as an institutional imperative, and whether they perceive themselves as 'international academics'. (Fanghanel, 2012)

Method

Despite being ‘key players’ in the processes of Internationalisation, academics have been undervalued in the debate (Teekens, 2006). If universities are to take seriously their mission to become international, they must enable their academic staff to shape the agenda, to help to determine the priorities, and to develop the skills and knowledge, aptitudes and mindsets to contribute to transformative change (Robson and Turner, 2007; Jackson, Robson and Huddart, 2012; Fanghanel, 2012; Schartner and Cho, 2015; Sanderson, 2011). Internationalisation is alternatively constructed and valued by academics in different institutions, disciplines and cultures (Leask and Bridge, 2013). Two workshops for academics were held in 2016, to consider the conceptual and methodological challenges associated with researching IoHE. They were attended by colleagues from a range of institutions internationally and in the UK. The workshops lasted for four days and presented unique opportunities to gather academic perspectives from a range of disciplines, institutions and cultural contexts on IoHE. This paper investigates: • What do academics perceive as the key dimensions of IoHE in their institution and their discipline? • Do both domestic and overseas academics perceive themselves as ‘international’ in their professional contexts? • How are the professional practices of academics enacted to ‘become international’ in their working contexts? • what kinds of knowledge, experience and support do academics perceive is needed to develop an internationalised academic identity and what learning processes can support this transformation? The findings emerge from the perceptions of participants at the two workshops, held in the UK and Thailand, during 2016. Data were gathered through photographs, group tasks and dialogue, research proposals emerging from the workshops, and workshop evaluation forms. A two-stage thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was employed . In the first stage, patterns in the data were identified using an inductive, data-driven approach. Patterns which were sufficiently similar were grouped under appropriate headings. In the second stage, core emergent themes were identified. The data represent participants' individual and collective views as they emerged over the four days of the workshops. The workshops were based on the premise that professional learning is enhanced in collaborative settings that support critical reflectivity and facilitate engagement with theory building. The inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary discussion enabled participants to develop perspectives beyond their specific contexts. Given the dynamic of the workshop situation and the rapid pace of change in the internationalisation of the sector, findings must be regarded as emergent, contingent and situated.

Expected Outcomes

The tentative findings suggest that it would be valuable to establish a research and practice network to faciltate a more sustained and systematic investigation into the policies, processes, perceptions and practices, identities and beliefs that are necessary to support inclusive and sustainable approaches to IoHE in Europe today. Such an inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional research and practice network would enable international comparative studies of IoHE in different historical, political, institutional, disciplinary, and socio-cultural conditions to be conducted; to critique and challenge existing conceptions of internationalisation at individual and institutional levels, leading to new research knowledge, theorisation and fresh perspectives. The network would enable a robust critique of ideas around IoHE, and promote innovative approaches to pedagogy, curriculum innovation, staff professional learning, and ultimately to enhance the student experience and ensure that graduates gain the international skills and perspectives they need for life and work in a global economy. ‘By understanding the discourses and practices of internationalization as always ‘in the making’, we can draw our attention to where and how certain ideas, projects and norms of internationalization become established, and perhaps we can expand our ability to make them differently’ (Tadaki and Tremewan, 2013, p.367). While accepting the notion that there are multiple ways of practising international[isation], to engage with research and practices in a coherent and coordinated way would enable the ‘convergence’ of ideas and a 'deliberative development of progressive narratives' that seem to be a desirable, 'viable and valuable pursuit' for such a network, and for the development of European and global higher education (Tadaki and Tremewan, 2013, 369). a focus on social, cultural and values-driven goals can lead to more acceptable conceptualisations of internationalisation, or indeed support generative theorization.

References

Barnes, J., et al., (1994) Higher Education staff development: directions for the 21st Century. Paris, UNESCO. Braun, V., and Clark, V., (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Clifford, V., and Montgomery, C. (2014) Challenging Conceptions of Western Higher Education and Promoting Graduates as Global Citizens. Higher Education Quarterly , 68, (1), 28–45. Debowski, S., 2012 The New Academic: a Strategic Handbook. Maidenhead, McGraw-Hill/Open University Press de Wit, H., Hunter, F. (2015) The Future of Internationalization in Europe International Higher Education No. 83 pp. 2-3 Fanghanel, J.,(2012) Being an Academic. London, Routledge, 2012 Hsieh, H. (2012) Challenges Facing Chinese Academic Staff in a UK University in terms of Language, Relationships and Culture. Teaching in Higher Education, 17 (4), 371-383. Jackson, E.L., Robson, S., Huddart, T., (2012) Staff and Student Perceptions of Internationalisation. Occasional Papers in Education and Lifelong Learning, 6 (1-2), 32-51. Jiang, X., Di Napoli, R., Borg, M., Maunder, R., Fry, H., Walsh, E. (2010) Becoming and Being an Academic: the Perpectives of Chinese Staff in Two Research-Intensive UK Universities. Teaching in Higher Education 35(2), 155-170. Leask, B., & Bridge, C. (2013). Comparing internationalisation of the curriculum in action across disciplines: theoretical and practical perspectives. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43(1), 79-101 doi:10.1080/03057925.2013.746566 Killick, D. (2012) Seeing ourselves in the world: Developing Global Citizenship through International Mobility and Campus Community. Journal of Studies in international Education, 16 (4), 372-89 Ritzen, J., Marconi , G., Internationalization in European Higher Education. International Journal of Innovation Science , 3(2) Robson, S., (2011) Internationalisation: a Transformative agenda for Higher Education? Teachers and Teaching, 17 (6) 619-630. Robson, S., and Turner, Y., (2007) Teaching is a Co-Learning Experience: Academics Reflecting on Learning and Teaching in an ‘Internationalised’ Faculty. Teaching in Higher Education, 12, (1), 41-54. Sanderson, G., (2011) Internationalisation and teaching in higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, 30:5, 661-676, Schartner, A., Cho, Y. (2015) Perceptions of ‘internationalisation at home’ and ‘global citizenship’ among higher education students and staff. In: 48th Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics. 2015, Aston University, Birmingham. Tadaki, M. and Tremewan, C. (2013) Reimagining internationalization in higher education: international consortia as a transformative space? Studies in Higher Education, 38 (3), 367-387 Teekens, H. (2006) Internationalization at Home: A Global Perspective. NUFFIC Trahar S. (2011) Developing Cultural Capability in International Higher Education: a Narrative Inquiry. London, Routledge.

Author Information

Sue Robson (presenting / submitting)

Newcastle University

Newcastle upon Tyne

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