Internationalisation At Home: Time For Review And Development?

Author(s):

Sue Robson(presenting / submitting)Alina Schartner

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 04 A,

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

09:00-10:30

Room:

K5.04

Chair:

Monne Wihlborg

Contribution

Internationalization is one of the key contemporary debates within the Higher Education (HE) sector. For the last two decades, many universities worldwide have proclaimed their ‘international’ status, but there has been little consensus about how this status can be defined. Internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) has been associated with quality in programmes (Urban and Palmer, 2013), with cooperation and partnership between HE institutions, and hence with the goals of Erasmus+ capacity building programmes (EACEA, 2016). However, in many western institutions the strategic emphasis has shifted to competition, with internationalization regarded as a means for revenue generation, and to enhance prestige and global rankings (Henard et al., 2012; Seeber et al., 2016).

A major challenge is evident to foreground the positive benefits of IoHE in an increasingly competitive HE environment, and to emphasise that a crucial goal of internationalised HE is ‘to provide the most relevant education to students who will be the citizens, entrepreneurs and scientists of tomorrow’ (Henard et al., 2012, p.7). We concur with the view that internationalisation should not be regarded as an end in itself, but seen instead as a driver for change and improvement (Henard et al., ibid), to promote more social and values-based goals. This seems timely, given recent political events in the UK (with the referendum leading to the Brexit vote), America (with the election of Donald Trump) and Europe (with political unrest arising from the forced migration of thousands of people fleeing conflict in their home countries). These events have revealed deeply rooted social schisms. This requires that internationalisation strategies are approached with integrity (Inan et al., 2014), that political and economic rationales are put in context and that intercultural understanding is emphasised as an important aspect of staff and student development in internationalised HE settings (Jones and de Wit, 2012; de Wit et al., 2015).

This paper takes a novel approach by focusing on 'internationalisation at home' (IaH) to enable the non-mobile majority of staff and students in HE to experience an international and intercultural dimension in their work and study at their home campus. It explores the dimensions of a more inclusive model for institutional review and framework for development of IaH, and argues for practical steps to internationalise the university experience for 'home' and ‘international’ students. It addresses the research questions: Can IaH serve as an agent of change to address political or economic, religious or cultural, ethnic or linguistic conflict (Marantz-Gal, 2016; Goren and Yemini 2016)? Can IaH serve as a means to develop in graduates the analytical and personal abilities and dispositions that are essential to underpin an active contribution in globalised, knowledge–based economies (Blasco and Tackney, 2013; King 2016)? The paper explores these concerns as they affect individual students and scholars, but also in their implications for institutional policy- and decision-making (Weimer, 2016; EAIE, 2016; EU Resolution of 19 January 2016). It argues for internationalisation to be embedded in institutional cycles of review and development to stimulate change to existing policies and practices in light of institutional, sector, national and international academic and social challenges (Qiang, 2003).

Method

Several European-level projects on IoHE to date have provided broader tools for mapping internationalisation practice, such as IMPI (Indicators for Measuring and Profiling Internationalisation www.impi-project.eu), MINT (Mapping Internationalisation Tool http://www.eurashe.eu/library/modernising-phe/mobility/mint/MINT-webtool-Users-Manual.pdf ) and CeQuInt (Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation; http://ecahe.eu/home/internationalisation-platform/certification/). European-level projects have also promoted transnational mobility as a means to provide intercultural experiences and to generate the skills graduates will require in the 21st century ( e.g. Mapping University Mobility of Staff and Students, EUA 2012; Erasmus Mobility Quality Tools, EACEA, 2010; Academic Links and Strategies for the Internationalisation of the Higher Education Sector, 2013-15; Facilitating student mobility service including quality insurance dimension, ERASMUS MUNDUS Promotion of European Higher Education – Action 3). Although intercultural modules for students have been developed at a European level (e.g. the LLP-funded IEREST project - Intercultural Education Resources for Erasmus Students and their Teachers: http://www.ierest-project.eu/), these also focus largely on internationally-mobile learners. This paper illustrates a project methodology focusing on IaH that has three strands: (1) A baseline audit to establish the extent of existing IaH practices at HE institutions across three countries (the UK, Italy and Belgium), and to identify effective practices to be shared (2) Focus groups with students and staff at institutions across the three countries and (3) an online survey to explore (a) ways of integrating a global dimension into the curriculum for students, and (b) how to best evidence innovative IaH practice. Data analysis will be comparative, identifying commonalities and differences across the three countries. Focus group and qualitative survey data will be analysed thematically, while descriptive statistics and t-tests will be used to analyse the quantitative survey data. Analysis of the data will inform the development of three practical outputs: an audit tool, curriculum framework, and evidence framework for HE institutions to support the review and development of existing policies and practices for IaH.

Expected Outcomes

The paper argues for an approach to internationalisation that stimulates change to existing policies and practices in light of institutional, sector, national and international academic and social challenges. In proposing a model to assist HE institutions to review and improve IaH practices the paper aims to directly address Key Priority Area 2 of the European Commission’s Communication on European Higher Education in the World: 'Promoting internationalisation at home' (COM/2013/499). In order to develop existing models of HE internationalisation, we will put forward a novel framework for IaH, encompassing examples of practice and illustrative case studies from the three countries under study. The model will also lead to the development of practical resources and tools for IaH, including:  An audit tool for universities seeking to review their current practice  An online toolkit for an ‘internationalising university experience’ module  A framework for evidencing good practice internationalisation The resources will be aimed at educators, students, staff development and professional service units, and those in a leadership position in higher education institutions in Europe and beyond.

References

Beelen J. and Jones, E. 2015 redefining Internationalisation at Home in A. Curaj et al. (eds.)The European Higher Education Area. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20877-0_5 Blasco, M. and Tackney, C. 2013 ‘“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: internationalisation and the erosion of the positive hidden curriculum in Danish higher education’, International Journal of Management in Education, 7 (4), 341–359 de Wit, H., Hunter, F., Howard, L., Egron-Polak, E. 2015 Internationalisation of higher education. Report for the European Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies EACEA 2016 Key Action 2 Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/home/erasmus-plus/actions EAIE, 2016 Spring Forum: Internationalisation in a Conflicted World. EUA 2012 Evaluating the ‘Mobility Mapping Tool’: MAUNIMO project evaluation seminar at University of Trento 10 May 2012 www.eua.be/activities-services/news/newsitem/12-05-10/Evaluating_the_Mobility_Mapping_Tool_MAUNIMO_project_evaluation_seminar_at_University_of_Trento.aspx European Parliament 19 Jan 2016 The role of intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and education in promoting EU fundamental values http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/library/publications/2016/communication-preventing-radicalisation_en.pdf Goren, H. and Yemini, M., 2016 Global citizenship education in context: teacher perceptions at an international school and a local Israeli school. Compare, 2016, 46(5), 832-853 Hénard,F., Diamond, L., Roseveare, D. 2012. Approaches to Internationalisation and Their Implications for Strategic Management and Institutional Practice. OECD, 2012. Inan, A., Wick, D., van Liempd, H.G., Fastner, M. 2014. Internationalisation with Integrity: modelling a new approach. European Association for International Education, 25 July 2014. http://www.eaie.org/blog/internationalisation-with-integrity/ Jon, J-E. (2013) ‘Realizing internationalization at home in Korean higher education promoting domestic students’ interaction with international students and intercultural competence’, Journal of Studies in International Education, 17, (4), 455–470. Leask, B. and 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. Marantz- Gal, A., 2016 Not just teaching, but peace-ing. Spring Forum 2016 Internationalisation in a conflicted world http://www.eaie.org/eaie-resources/library/publication/Forum-Magazine/2016-spring-forum Seeber, M., Cattaneo, M., Huisman, J., Paleari, S. 2016 Why do higher education institutions internationalize? An investigation of the multilevel determinants of internationalization rationales. Higher Education, 2016, 72:685–702 DOI 10.1007/s10734-015-9971-x Urban, S.L., and Palmer, 2014 International Students as a Resource for Internationalization of Higher Education. Journal of Studies in International Education 18(4): 305-324 · Weimer, L. International Higher Education in 2016: the year in review. 21 Dec. 2016

Author Information

Sue Robson (presenting / submitting)

Newcastle University

Newcastle upon Tyne

Alina Schartner

Newcastle University, United Kingdom

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