Editorial Advisory Board Members on Reimagining Higher Education Internationalization and Internationalization of the Curriculum

Abstract

This research explores how editorial advisory board members across four highly ranked international higher education–focused journals understand higher education internationalization generally, and internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) specifically. Notionally, as gatekeepers, editorial advisory board members hold a powerful strategic position in the scholarly debates that characterize an active discipline, and can indirectly assert a strong influence over the academic direction of the field(s) to which they belong. All editorial advisory members for the journals Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Research & Development, and the Journal of Studies in International Education were invited to contribute to this research with 25 ( N = 25, 30%) consenting to participate. Utilizing qualitative, semi-structured interviewing, participants discussed their views on higher education internationalization, IoC, and the importance of these in the contemporary university. Participants also discussed what dimensions of IoC need to be further addressed in higher education discourses and research, and opportunities and challenges they foresee concerning higher education internationalization now and into the future. Findings reveal, for participants, internationalization continues to be perceived as a multivocal, largely Anglo-European, and neoliberal enterprise which is at a crossroad, and needs to be reimagined for the betterment of all in society. Collectively, participants draw attention to a lack of criticality and problematization within higher education internationalization discourses, and highlighted the need for research, scholarship, and academic leaders to expand the focus of IoC to address future global challenges and needs.

Promoting International Student Mobility for Sustainability? Navigating Conflicting Realities and Emotions of International Educators

“…Sustainability-related research is still a nascent subfield within internationalization and international education literature, although several scholars have investigated how the field is responding, calling for more critical scholarship (Whitsed et al, 2021) and additional and considerate investigation on how it should be designed to be more sustainable and reduce its impact on the environment (Rumbley, 2020). To add to the complexity of these tasks, COVID-19, social justice movements, forced migration, and mounting financial pressures continue to influence the international higher education landscape, leading to shifting priorities and seemingly-constant emergencies.…”

Curriculum Internationalisation

“…As Kahn (2010, p. 22) explains, 'people engage when they feel that, on balance, it matters to do so. ' This finding affirms that staff engagement takes many different forms, some of which may not be easily observable (Whitsed et al, 2021). However, the duality and lack of specific expertise and purposeful collaboration that these academics perceive and experience with curriculum internationalisation complicate their shared understandings and imply a risk that no further actions will be taken.…”

“…The engagement of academic staff is frequently reported as one of the main problems in studies about internationalisation in higher education. Scholars in various contexts observe tensions between the expected role of academic staff and their actual engagement in internationalising education (Stohl, 2007;Clifford, 2009;Agnew, 2012;Friesen, 2012;Leask et al, 2020;Whitsed et al, 2021). At the same time, these studies conclude that we do not know much about how and why these academics engage (or not) with internationalisation in their programs and the impact of their organisational context.…”

“…However, overall, the IoC literature did not investigate much how the academic staff perceive and experience curriculum internationalisation and how the organisational context impacts their engagement. Scholars examining curriculum internationalisation (e.g., Leask et al, 2020;Ryan et al, 2019;Whitsed et al, 2021) have only recently started investigating staff engagement as a contextual, dynamic phenomenon linked to the university organisation. These studies argue for a more nuanced understanding of the organisational dynamics that impact staff engagement with curriculum internationalisation.…”

“…Academic staff engagement with curriculum internationalisation has been a frequently reported problem throughout the last decades (Whitsed et al, 2021) In this change process, several scholars (Green & Whitsed, 2015;Leask et al, 2020) observe tensions between the expected role of academic staff in curriculum internationalisation and their actual engagement in the process. Many studies (e.g., Agnew, 2012;Crosling et al, 2008;Leask, 2015) denote personal, cultural, disciplinary and institutional blockers causing resistance and disengagement of academic staff with curriculum internationalisation.…”