Global university rankings and their impact on the internationalisation of higher education

Global university rankings are a worldwide trend that emerged in times of the globalisation and internationalisation of higher education. Universities worldwide are now striving to become “world‐class” institutions and are constantly aiming to improve their ranking position. Global rankings of universities are thus perceived by many as an ultimate tool for assessing the level of internationalisation at individual higher education institutions. This article first discusses the meaning of and relationship between the globalisation and internationalisation of higher education, as their influence on the emergence of global rankings is undeniable. It then outlines the methodological designs of four main global university rankings which serve as key prerequisites for the subsequent analyses of both the international(‐isation) indicators that these rankings include and of the international ranking initiatives that focus exclusively on the international outlook of higher education institutions. In the concluding discussion, the article reveals that, due to the predominantly quantitative orientation of global university rankings (on the internationalisation of higher education), their results should not be generalised or understood as a means to improve the quality of (internationalisation of) higher education.     

Internationalisation and indigenisation in Papua New Guinea’s universities: promoting authentic agency

ABSTRACT

In uncertain times for higher education learning communities, the risks of societal and epistemic dependence on a single globally dominant set of academic knowledge practices are evident. Nonetheless, many higher education institutions in developing nations struggle to achieve international presence unless they uncritically adopt these dominant practices, even where they recognise the need to use and promote local knowledge systems. We explore these dynamics in postcolonial Papua New Guinea, through an assessment of the intentions for internationalisation of the six PNG universities and barriers to agency. Our approach recognises the dialectical relationship between ‘internationalisation’ and ‘indigenisation’. We suggest that a pervasive but narrow view of indigenisation, emphasising the localisation of university staff, has hampered other forms of both indigenisation and internationalisation, producing more stasis than synthesis within PNG’s universities. Effective international agency by PNG universities, and their partners, requires more critical and continuous discourse between the international and the indigenous.     

Nationalisation, Localisation and Globalisation in Finnish Higher Education

This article analyses and discusses the interplay between the social processes of nationalisation, localisation and globalisation in a single European nation state. The view of nationalisation put forward draws on a national case study based on historical and sociological research findings. The second part of the article presents a case study of the nature of globalisation and localisation in an average Finnish university. The article shows that nationalisation of Finnish higher education has created a cultural understanding of higher education institutions important for competition with other nations. As for localisation, on the one hand higher education institutions support their local communities and provinces to gain social and economic benefits. On the other hand, local communities and provinces support their higher education institutions in the hope of benefiting from them. The case studies also suggest that economic globalisation creates new dynamics within higher education institutions both through strategic alliances between higher education and commercial enterprises and through the emergence of alternative new funding sources for research.     

The changing role of the university in the production of new knowledge

Abstract

‘Internationalisation’ became a key theme in the 1990s both in higher education policy debates and in higher education research. Starting off from a heterogeneous set of phenomena, internationalisation does not merely mean varying border‐crossing activities on the rise anymore, but rather substantial changes: first, from a predominantly ‘vertical’ pattern of cooperation and mobility towards the dominance of international relationships on equal terms; second, from casuistic action towards systematic policies of internationalisation; third, from disconnection of specific international activities on the one hand and on the other internationalisation of the core activities towards an integrated internationalisation of higher education. Though higher education policy remains predominantly shaped on a national level and tends to underscore specific traditions and conditions of individual countries, the responsibility of individual institutions of higher education in Europe for their own future grows in the process internationalisation which is accompanied, among others, by growing pressure for diversity and increasing popularity of managenalism as well as by a policy of the European Commission which seems to favour de‐nationalisation of higher education.     

Inclusive and exclusive knowledge practices in interdisciplinary,international education

This study provides a critical engagement with the principle of inclusion, as manifest in three international, interdisciplinary master programmes in Denmark. Initially, it is proposed that one focuses on the knowledge practices found in international, interdisciplinary education, asking to what extent these suggest inclusion in the sense that all students are treated as equals. The alternative is an exclusive learning environment where certain groups are singled out for special treatment, which will often request from them assimilation into the dominant practice. A conceptual point of departure is provided by the educational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, which motivates the identification of ‘normative centres’ (Graham, L., and R. Slee. 2008. “An Illusory Interiority: Interrogating the Discourse/s of Inclusion.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 40 (2): 277–293. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2007.00331.x, 283) related to the two themes of interdisciplinarity and international-ness. The topics are subsequently pursued in an empirical analysis, drawing on 19 qualitative research interviews with lecturers involved in the three master courses. This leads to the conclusion that exclusive knowledge practices can be found in all programmes. At the same time, the interviews reveal a reality that is multi-centred, suggesting that interdisciplinarity is as ‘troublesome’ (Land, R. 2012. “Crossing Tribal Boundaries: Interdisciplinarity as a Threshold Concept.” In Tribes and Territories in the 21st Century, edited by P. Trowler, M. Saunders, & V. Bamber, 175–185. Abingdon: Routledge) in higher education as the question of internationalisation.     

Educational sciences,morality and politics: international educational congresses in the early twentieth century

Internationalism became one of the keywords in the international intellectual and political debates at the end of the nineteenth century. As a political, cultural and social movement it also included science and education. The desire for international cooperation and global understanding was caused by the growing economic interdependence in the world and the threat to peace by nationalistic politics of the imperialistic powers. Within the context of discipline formation and fragmentation, cultural critique, social reform and pacifist movements, academic educationists, teachers and educational and social reformers in various countries tried to establish an international network to promote scientific cooperation, peace, mutual understanding and professional collaboration. In this article, the author will try to place the phenomenon of internationalism within the context of the formation of educational sciences in the early twentieth century. Drawing from the example of other scientific disciplines at this time, such as geography, meteorology and physics, one can assume that the internationalizing of education also increased its professional and scientific standards. The “disciplinarization process”1 Whereas this term is used by Hofstetter and Schneuwly, Van Gorp, Depaepe, and Simon prefer the notion “discipline‐formation process”. See Rita Hofstetter, “The Construction of a New Science by Means of an Institute and Its Communication Media. The Institute of Educational Sciences in Geneva (1912–1948)”, and Angelo Van Gorp, Marc Depaepe & Frank Simon, “Backing the Actor as Agent in Discipline Formation: An Example of the ‘Secondary Disciplinarisation’ of the Educational Sciences, Based on the Networks of Ovide Decroly (1901–1931)”, both in this issue. of educational sciences was closely intertwined with the genesis of an international scientific network through special institutions. In order to investigate this assumption, the genesis, structure, contents and effects of international cooperation in the field of education in the first decades of the twentieth century will be considered. This international cooperation took on different shapes. It included, among others, the international exchange of teachers and students, international educational exhibitions, international congresses, transnational institutions, multilateral standardization and international journals. The focus will be on the main agents of institutionalized internationalization, namely international congresses and associations, and individual forms of international communication and cooperation will therefore not be dealt with. The article begins with a short overview of the different kinds of international educational congresses. Two types of internationalization within this institutional setting will then be introduced: the research‐oriented, “scientifically” based model of academic educationists (“new educational sciences”) and the instruction and reform‐oriented, “politically and morally” based model of a social movement (New Education). Finally the geographical extension of internationalization will be analyzed briefly before the main argument is set out in the concluding remarks, namely that the internationalization of education through international institutions found its driving force in moral and political assumptions of the teaching profession and its goals of school reform within the New Education rather than in an international scientific paradigm of the academic “new educational sciences”.     

Boundlessly entangled: non-/human performances of education for health through open-air schools

ABSTRACT

This article starts from histoire croisée to develop a genuinely relational analysis of performances of health education in the context of open-air schools. It interrogates, through places, people, and things conceived of as being performatively entangled, the notion of an internationalisation of school hygiene. These places, people, and things – “international” conferences and exhibitions, “figureheads” of the aspiring New Schools and open-air schools movements, and printed, photographed, and designed materials – reveal open-air schools as “practice[s] and movement[s]” unbound by national or otherwise (real-)imagined borders. Fragmentation accompanied their circulation and ensued from their co-constitutive role in the mediation of knowledge and praxis around hygiene. While still underexplored, economic factors were key to this process. Their analysis from within the “meshwork” in which non-/humans were (are) entangled opens up new lines of enquiry.     

Narrative authority vs. perjured testimony: Courage,vulnerability and truth

This paper outlines a method for describing and analysing discursive practices in education. Discourse analysis exposes and clarifies the discursive practices by which and through which all aspects of education are carried out. An analysis of representative “classic” texts of radical educational theory was undertaken in order to study the discursive construction of knowledge. The case‐studies reveal a discursive operation of recontextualization,where a paradigm‐shift away from the functionalist discourse of education is effected. This operation involves “translating” the categories of “education” and “schooling” from their familiar discursive contexts to a new context where they enter into new relations with unfamiliar terms and categories. The radical education critique and the knowledge organized around and through it fall into a pattern which echoes the sermon genre of the jeremiad, which facilitates the construction of knowledge in terms of the gap between “full humanity” [Freire] or the Jeffersonian ideal [Bowles and Gintis] and the actual present state of alienation. Radical discourse in effect both constructs that gap and determines the means by which it can be closed.     

Neoliberalism,internationalisation and higher education: connections,contradictions and alternatives

ABSTRACT

We explore the role of neoliberalism within portrayals of internationalisation in higher education (HE). Through an analysis of four features of internationalisation, we suggest that they embody a complex entanglement of neoliberal categories and assumptions with other, primarily progressive humanitarian ideals. This framing of internationalisation has three affects. One, humanitarian ideals coupled with neoliberal categories normalise inequalities, turning internationalisation into a meritocratic global race, focusing on celebrating the possibility of the few who can achieve, instead of the embedded inequalities within the system, which disadvantage the many. Two, this allows neoliberal practices to be advanced through the discourse of internationalisation and its association with progressive humanitarian values. Three, this neoliberal framing does not explain the nature of internationalisation of HE in many nations; we demonstrate this by analysing internationalisation in China, Israel and Cuba. We suggest that internationalisation in HE cannot be adequately explained by analyses which rely on neoliberalism.     

Fred Clarke and the internationalisation of studies and research in education

Fred Clarke (1880–1952) was a key figure in the internationalisation of educational studies and research in the first half of the twentieth century. Clarke aimed to heighten the ideals and develop the practices of educational studies and research through promoting mutual influences in different countries around the world. He envisaged the Institute of Education at the University of London, England, as having a leading role, and was the director of the Institute from 1936 until 1945. His notion of internationalisation was reciprocal and transnational in nature, with aspirations for partnership within a common tradition. This built on the ideal of a “Commonwealth” that was current in the interwar years, and emphasised the affinities between the dominion nations and in particular Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It also drew on the financial support and cultural influence of the Carnegie Corporation in New York. Two specific projects taken forward by Clarke to put these ideas into practice were his “world tour” of 1935 and his role as the “Adviser to Oversea Students” at the Institute of Education. These initiatives helped to convert strategic visions and policies into social practices, and to shape the subject of Education in higher education as a multi-disciplinary field in the generation after the Second World War.     

Bringing Singapore’s teacher education beyond its shores

In recent years, education systems around the world have been keeping a keen eye on rankings of student achievement as measured by internationally benchmarked tests. This has led to considerable attention being paid to teasing out success factors that may account for countries that have emerged top of the ranks or those that have shown the most rapid improvement from one test period to the next. Singapore’s education system, which has consistently emerged as one of the higher ranking countries has garnered much international attention as a consequence. Even as other nations are learning more about Singapore, it is timely for Singapore to share our expertise and experience to benefit other systems. In this article, one such effort of internationalisation is focused on i.e., teacher education and professional development programmes. The underpinning philosophy of internationalisation is to serve the global educational community. Three models of internationalisation are expounded upon, namely; building the local capacity of our partner countries, training the trainers, and the offering of executive leadership training programmes to an international market. The past and future challenges of internationalisation are also discussed. The article ends with how it began, in terms of examining Singapore’s internationalisation of its teacher education and professional development programmes in the light of whether we are indeed, paving the Fourth Way as espoused by Hargreaves and Shirley (2009).     

Australian Waste Wise Schools Program: Its Past,Present, and Future

The Waste Wise Schools program has a longstanding history in Australia. It is an action-based program that encourages schools to move toward zero waste through their curriculum and operating practices. This article provides a review of the program, finding that it has had notable success in reducing schools’ waste through a “reduce, reuse, and recycle” (or “three Rs”) approach. Since the program's conception, an evaluation process has continually occurred alongside the actual program. This report presents the most recent program evaluation results: a 2007 statewide survey that was administered to 1,015 primary (elementary) and secondary teachers. The article outlines the past, present, and future directions of the Waste Wise Schools program and, in doing so, discusses the broader implications for school-based environmental education programs. In particular and of most significance, the findings reveal a growing sustainability culture in Australian schools and communities.     

Globalisation and internationalisation of teacher education: a comparative case study of Canada and Greater China

This article begins with a brief overview of the relationship between globalisation and the internationalisation of higher education. This serves as a backdrop for the focus of the article, which is the internationalisation of teacher education. In order to see the diverse ways that teacher education programmes have been internationalised over the past 15 years, a case study comparing internationalisation initiatives in Greater China and Canada is presented. This comparative case study demonstrates how different globalising processes influence various forms of internationalisation. Comparison also sheds light on the importance of attending not only to broader, global processes, but specific, local contextual factors. Rather than consider internationalisation as one set of practices that have been taken up globally, this article suggests that there are many different forms of internationalisation in teacher education that are influenced by both global and local contexts. In this respect, the study moves us towards a more nuanced and complex understanding of how teacher education institutions across diverse settings are being internationalised in the twenty-first century.     

Advocating and administering critical realism in a study of transnational educational collaborative partnerships

ABSTRACT

Transnational higher education is an increasingly important and essential part of the internationalisation of higher education. As the number of global educational institutions and international students participating in these types of initiatives increases, it becomes of paramount importance that research methodologies that investigate the phenomenon are developed and shared within transnational research communities. This article seeks to contribute to transnational education research by exploring a paradigm that has the potential to generate alternative forms of knowledge concerning transnational collaborative partnerships. By exploring functionalist and interpretivist approaches, often applied in partnership research, this article argues that neither approach, when applied in isolation, can fully articulate the notion of a TNE collaborative partnership. The article therefore champions the application of critical realism when investigating these partnerships and provides an empirical example of two Chinese-British case studies to illustrate the application of the paradigm, followed by a vignette of the type of findings generated, and its value to research and practice.     

Issues surrounding English,the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity in Asia: a focus on Japan

The English language is significant to the internationalisation of higher education worldwide. Countries in Asia are proactive in appropriating English for their national interests, while paying attention to associated national cultural identity issues. This article examines the ways in which the role of English is interpreted and justified in different countries in Asia, with a particular focus on Japan, as these nations attempt to internationalise their higher education within the broader processes of regionalisation and globalisation and their own nationalist discourse. Through critical analyses and discussions of Japan's two major government initiatives, the Action Plan 2003 to ‘Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities’ and the ‘Global 30’ Project 2008, the article investigates how cultural national identities are shaped, are altered and are put ‘at risk’ in policies and practices for the internationalisation of higher education and the overemphasis on English. It argues for the importance of understanding the intersections of English language policy, the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity and also considers how the over-promotion of English in the case of Japan has been energetically driven by the nation building agenda that tends to undermine local languages and what this might mean for internationalisation.     

A White Veneer: Education policy,space and “race” in the inner city

This paper explores how neo-liberal education policy change and urban renewal in inner Sydney and London has interacted with “raced” and classed educational identities. I draw on two examples of policy change, the Building the Future policy development in the inner city area of Sydney and the “Excellence in Cities” partnership programme in East London. The paper outlines, and applies, a spatial education policy sociology framework to explore the interplay of space, place, “race” and education policy. This paper suggests that in inner Sydney and London “whiteness” as a racial construct is present but noticeably absent and that this absent presence creates a “white veneer” around educational policy change and urban renewal.     

A “research” into international student-related research: (Re)Visualising our stand?

This paper uses Tight (High Educ Res Dev 23(4):395–411, 2004; High Educ Res Dev 31(5):723–740, 2012; High Educ Res Dev 32(1):136–151, 2013)’s journal analysis and review framework to review a sample of 497 journal articles on researches concerning international students over the past 30 years. It was found that a majority of the articles focus on the students’ in-campus, academic and social experience. Even with different conceptualisation of the terms “international student” and “international student mobility”, international students undergo similar challenges throughout their sojourn duration, and much of the responsibilities in managing international students fall on universities and respective faculty members within the institutions. It might seem as if we are going in circles in terms of the issues and concerns in managing international students, but the silver lining out of this observation is the increased ethnical awareness among countries and higher education institutions in hosting and safeguarding the students throughout their international higher education experience, albeit rather slowly. The analysis brings to attention how much have we achieved in internationalisation of higher education in general and international student-related research in particular, and the potential for greater expansion and focus on managing the student population within a comprehensive “life cycle” approach.