Rationales for Internationalisation.pdf

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Wit, H. (1998). Rationales for Internationalisation of Higher Education. Millenium, 11internationalisation stabilise itself as an integral part of higher education policies? And isinternationalisation the solution to all our present problems of a multicultural and international society?Are we absolutely convinced that internationalisation will bring the local and the global into perfectharmony, or should we limit our optimism and see internationalisation only as one of the many ways inwhich multiculturalism, peace and mutual understanding can be tried to overcome?1. MeaningWhat do we mean with internationalisation of higher education? It would be going too far to presentand discuss here the many different definitions, terms and approaches to internationalisation present inliterature and higher education practice. In the course of a comparative study, Jane Knight of RyersonPolytechnic University in Toronto, Canada, and I have been working on for the Programme onInstitutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development (OECD), we have come to the following working definition: "Internationalisation ofhigher education is the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching,research and service functions of the institution." (1997, 8)As you will notice from this definition, it includes several important elements:internationalisation is a processinternationalisation is a response to the international , to globalisation and is not to be confusedwith the globalisation process itselfinternationalisation includes both international and local elements (intercultural).This way of looking to and defining of internationalisation of higher education is quite different thanwhat frequently is done in studies dealing with this theme. In most studies internationalisation of highereducation is narrowed to one or a few activities, academic mobility, global or multicultural education,area studies, study abroad, etcetera.In these and other studies internationalisation is confused with a rationale: a political one, like peaceand mutual understanding, or an economic one, like the needs of a more and more international labourmarket, etcetera.And most of the studies ignore the link between international and local, between studying in aninternational environment and the fact that that environment includes the local environment.
Wit, H. (1998). Rationales for Internationalisation of Higher Education. Millenium, 11Such studies see internationalisation not as a process but as an activity with a beginning and with anend.That is why, quite confusing, the term international education is so often used in exchange withinternationalisation of higher education and its different activities and approaches.International Education assumes that education already has become international, I would dare to say-we are only in a process of internationalising and the end, being international, is remote and difficult todefine.(II)2. RationalesWhy are institutions of higher education, national governments , international bodies and more andmore the private sector -banks, industry, foundations- so actively involved in international educativeactivities? There is not one single answer to that question, as is often thought.In the study Jane Knight and I did for OECD, we distinguish four groups of rationales: academic,social/cultural, political and economic rationales (1995, 9-14). Rationales can be described asmotivations for integrating an international dimension into higher education. They address the "why" ofinternationalisation. And different rationales imply different means and ends to internationalisation.When analysing rationales, we have to take into account the diversity of stakeholders’ groups in highereducation: the government sector, the private sector and the educational sector. And within the lastgroup we have to distinguish between three subgroups: the institutional level, the academics and theirdepartments, and the students.It is important to keep in mind that:a. there is a strong overlap in rationales within and between different stakeholders’ groups; themain differences are in the hierarchy of priorities;b. in general, stakeholders do not have one exclusive rationale but a combination of rationales forinternationalisation with a hierarchy in priorities;c. rationales may differ between stakeholders’ groups and within stakeholders’ groups;d. priorities in rationales may change over time and may change by country and region;e. rationales are in general more implicit than explicit motives for internationalisation.
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