Internationalisation - Challenges & Opportunities

An Australian Perspective

Gavin Sanderson

“We all need some foundation on which to stand; the question is how extreme and unchangeable is our formulation of what this foundation is” (Said 1995, p. 333).

“A major challenge facing universities as they pursue the project of internationalising tertiary education is how to engage with an emerging politics of resentment in Australia, while they attempt to develop an organisational culture defined by multiculturalism and transnational relations” (Singh 1998, p. 12).

Key dimensional concepts

Globalisation

Internationalisation

Nationalisation/ism

Locating the Australian context using imagery

Cartoonists’ images play an important role to “remind us of our hatred of boongs, chows, japs, wogs, poms and migrants in general” (King 1983)

Locating the Australian context using imagery

(circa 2000)

Conceptualising globalisation

Compression of space & time

Global village

Distant actions have local effects

Ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes

One Atmosphere, One Economy, One Law, One Community

Conceptualising globalisationHeld, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., and Perraton, J. (1999). Global transformations: Politics, economics, culture. Cambridge, Polity.  

“ … a transformation in the spatial organisation of social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact – generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and the exercise of power.” (p.16, bold added)

Conceptualising globalisation

The world is going in one of three directions:

1/ Hyperglobalists – everything’s changing

2/ Sceptics – nothing’s changing

3/ Transformationalists – elements of 1/ & 2/ but trajectory is unclear

Conceptualising globalisation

Top down – evil / unethical / undesirable?

Bottom up – good / ethical / desirable?

Relationship betweenG11n & I18N

I18N is a reflection of G11N

I18N is an agent of G11N

Internationalization is changing the world of higher education, and globalization is changing the world of internationalisation. (Knight 2004, p. 5).

Conceptualising internationalisation

Weak – superficial

Appadurai’s “weak” and “strong” internationalisation

Strong – deep engagement and commitment

Kokusaika

The Japanese word ‘kokusaika’ means a process of “self-change” or “self-reform”. For the Japanese, ‘kokusaika’ implies that they change something about themselves due to international influences (Horie 2002).

Conceptualising internationalisation

Working definition (mid-1990s to 2003/4):

“The process of integrating an international / intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of the institution” (organisation focus)

Jane Knight’s organisational “process” approach

Updated working definition (2004)

“The process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education” (sector focus)

A representation of the depth and breadth dimensions of the reach of internationalisation in Knight’s (2004) definition (Sanderson, 2006)

Intercultural, international, and global flows of technology, economy, knowledge, people, values and ideas

National level

Sector level

Institution level

Breadth dimension of the reach of internationalisation

Depth dimensionof the reach of

internationalisation

A representation of the actual extent of the depth and breadth dimensions of the reach of internationalisation (Sanderson, 2006)

Intercultural, international, and global flows of technology, economy, knowledge, people, values and ideas

Individual level

National level

Sector level

Institution level

Regional level

Global level

Breadth dimension of the reach of internationalisation

Faculty/Department level

Depth dimension of the reach of

internationalisation

Supranational level

Within-institution level

Limits of Knight’s (2004) depth

dimension

ReferencesHorie, M. (2002). The internationalisation of higher education in Japan in the 1990s: A reconsideration. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning, 43(1), 65-84.

King, J. (1983) A cartoon history of Australia. Adelaide, Savvas Publishing.

Knight, J. (1999). Internationalisation of higher education. In H. de Wit & J. Knight (Eds.), Quality and internationalisation in higher education (pp. 13-28). Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Knight, J. (2004). Internationalization remodelled: definition, approaches, and rationales. Journal of Studies in International Education, 8(1), 5-31.

Said, E. (1995) Orientalism; western conceptions of the orient. London, Penguin Books.

Sanderson, G. (2006) Examination of a profile of the ideal lecturer for teaching international students. Adelaide: Flinders University

Singh, M. (1998) Globalism, cultural diversity and tertiary education. Australian Universities Review, 41 (2), 12-17