Internationalization of higher education

M. Van Der Wende*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The internationalization of higher education has expanded over the last decades. Numbers of students, teaching staff, and researchers that cross borders are increasing and institutional activities and strategies for internationalization have become more elaborate. Their aims and rationales include networking for mutual understanding and intercultural learning, for achieving academic excellence, and for providing assistance to build capacity in other countries. As the context is increasingly characterized by global competition in which knowledge is a prime factor for economic growth, internationalization has also become more market oriented, aiming to attract talented students and highly skilled workers as key resources for the knowledge economy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInternational Encyclopedia of Education
PublisherElsevier
Pages540-545
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9780080448947
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Nevertheless, in the second-half of the twentieth century, a gradual change in the extent to which higher education was nationally determined and orientated can be observed. International cooperation between nations in the field of higher education emerged following major political and economical developments ( Blumenthal et al., 1996; De Wit, 2002 ). The post-war reconstruction of Europe was supported by promoting peace and mutual understanding through the stimulation of scientific cooperation between the USA and Europe. The Fulbright program is a prime example of this so-called North–North cooperation. During the Cold War, the focus of internationalization was on achieving foreign policy goals through aid and technical assistance. The process of de-colonization in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in new forms of mobility and cooperation aimed at the development of a new intellectual stratum in the former colonial nations (South–North mobility and North–South cooperation). From the 1980s on, processes of regional integration notably in the European Union (EU), the Asia Pacific Region, and Latin America (Mercosur) resulted in new types of multilateral exchange and cooperation such as the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) and the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) programs. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, internationalization became in the USA more clearly tied to diplomacy and national security, with new exchange programs with Muslim countries and heightened awareness of the need for language and area studies ( Green and Knight, 2004 ).

Funding

Nevertheless, in the second-half of the twentieth century, a gradual change in the extent to which higher education was nationally determined and orientated can be observed. International cooperation between nations in the field of higher education emerged following major political and economical developments ( Blumenthal et al., 1996; De Wit, 2002 ). The post-war reconstruction of Europe was supported by promoting peace and mutual understanding through the stimulation of scientific cooperation between the USA and Europe. The Fulbright program is a prime example of this so-called North–North cooperation. During the Cold War, the focus of internationalization was on achieving foreign policy goals through aid and technical assistance. The process of de-colonization in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in new forms of mobility and cooperation aimed at the development of a new intellectual stratum in the former colonial nations (South–North mobility and North–South cooperation). From the 1980s on, processes of regional integration notably in the European Union (EU), the Asia Pacific Region, and Latin America (Mercosur) resulted in new types of multilateral exchange and cooperation such as the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) and the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) programs. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, internationalization became in the USA more clearly tied to diplomacy and national security, with new exchange programs with Muslim countries and heightened awareness of the need for language and area studies ( Green and Knight, 2004 ).

Keywords

  • Academic staff mobility
  • Bologna process
  • Brain drain
  • Distance education
  • Globalization
  • Higher education
  • Institutional strategies
  • Internationalization
  • Internationalized curricula
  • Knowledge economy
  • Quality assurance
  • Recognition
  • Research collaboration
  • Student mobility
  • Virtual mobility

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