Higher education is characterized by the increasing presence of international faculty and students. At the same time, universities are focusing more on educating interculturally competent citizens and preparing graduates for careers in a globalized world. While international students and the effects of student diversity have received considerable attention from researchers, with the teaching and learning challenges being among the main areas in focus, the experiences, contributions and needs of international teaching faculty are under-explored. The need to further research their impact and experiences, including the extent to which they contribute to the transformation of the educational environment, appears timely.

The presentation will draw on contemporary articulations of cosmopolitan discourse with its close ties to the theory of hospitality, on which the argument for a better understanding of the experiences of international teaching faculty is founded. Today’s political and socio-cultural discourse of cosmopolitanism requires that we understand the world as inherently interconnected, multidimensional and hybrid, and that we question our traditional understanding of belonging. It is paralleled by the relatively recent discussion of the role of cosmopolitanism in the field of higher education research, which underlines the importance of creating and supporting inclusive teaching and learning communities, emphasizing critical thinking, contextualization, and dialogue. Cosmopolitanism points toward the need to engage more deeply with how we conceptualize and practice teaching and learning in the global context. Furthermore, cosmopolitanism underscores the importance of focusing on whether international faculty are included in the professional communities, on the opportunities for reciprocal learning among international and home faculty, and on international faculty’s impact on student learning.  

The presenters’ intention will be to draw from cross-contextual, cross-cultural, and cross-disciplinary experiences in order to:

a) Address the gap in our knowledge about the international faculty experiences in US and European higher education; and

B) Understand whether, and to what extent, these communities are or can be characterized as hospitable or inclusive communities of practice from the perspectives of international faculty.

These are some of the specific questions that the presenters will address, focusing on faculty, institutional and societal perspectives:

• How do international faculty members experience and perceive the educational environment at their respective institutions? What challenges and opportunities do they identify in relation to teaching in international contexts?

• (How) are the experiences and potential of the international faculty to contribute to the internationalization agenda of higher education taken into account in their respective institutions?

• What are some of the social, disciplinary, departmental, and institutional policies, programs and support systems that (could) genuinely value the diversity that the international faculty bring to campuses?

• With the growing emphasis in the US universities of becoming ‘global’ and ‘diverse,’ what role do the international faculty have in creating, adopting and promoting institutional and cultural narratives?

• How does academia, arguably the most progressive segment of our society, advance or react to today’s cosmopolitan ethics and rearticulate our traditional understanding of the rules and practice of hospitality? Is it (or can it be) a space that could be viewed as a model for our society’s transformative appreciation of inclusiveness and diversity? And, what role can we, those who inquire into the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, play in this process?

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