Hans de Wit

Internationalization of Higher Education—What Can Research Add to the Policy Debate?

The European process, thanks to the extraordinary achievements of the last few years, has become an increasingly concrete and relevant reality for the Union and its citizens. Enlargement prospects together with deepening relations with other European countries, provide even wider dimensions to that reality. Meanwhile, we are witnessing a growing awareness in large parts of the political and academic world and in public opinion of the need to establish a more complete and far-reaching Europe, in particular building upon and strengthening its intellectual, cultural, social and scientific and technological dimensions.

Barriers to International Student Mobility Evidence From the Erasmus Program

In this article, we look at the barriers to international student mobility, with particular reference to the European Erasmus program. Much is known about factors that support or limit student mobility, but very few studies have made comparisons between participants and nonparticipants. Making use of a large data set on Erasmus and non-Erasmus students in seven European countries, we look at the barriers for participation. Results reveal the overall impact of financial barriers but suggest that it is personal barriers that help us to better differentiate between Erasmus and non-Erasmus students. The analysis suggests a two-pronged approach to increase participation: one focusing on better information and communication and the other stressing the benefits of Erasmus mobility.

International student mobility

The global context The most striking trend in international student mobility over the past forty years is the increase in the numberof globally circulating students, from approximately 250,000 in 1965, up to an estimated 3.7 million at present (OECD 2011: 320, UNESCO 2006: 34). These statistics primarily reflect the mobility of degree-seeking students rather than short-term ‘study abroad’ students (creditearning or otherwise) but speak to three mobility ‘waves’ in the contemporary period. The years 1975– 85 saw an increase of 30% (from 800,000 to one million). A second wave occurred between 1989 and 1994 (with an increase of 34%), and a third wave took place between 1999 and 2004 (with an increase of 4%). In the past five years, the growth – at least in absolute terms – has taken the shape of a tsunami, although in fairness it must be acknowledged that still only about 2% of the world student population is internationally mobile every year. Currently, according to OECD data, one can even notice a slowdown in growth: from 8% in 2007–08 to 6.4% in 2008–09 (OECD 2011: 319). Perhaps as important as the growing numbers of students is the fact that the traditional destination countries for international students – the USA, the UK, Germany, France, and Australia – face increasing competition from countries like the Russian Federation, China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Countries that send large numbers of students abroad are increasingly also becoming recipients of international students, while the growth of education ‘hubs’ in recent years in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere is also providing new destination options for mobile students Secondly, global competition for highly skilled manpower is becoming a strong pull factor in international student circulation. The greying societies of Europe are competing with North America, Australia, and Japan for top talent around the world, as all of these countries and regions share an urgent need to fill human resource gaps in their knowledge economies. At the same time, they must compete with the emerging economies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, which perhaps need such human resource talent even more. Thirdly, the cross-border delivery of higher education – with programmes, projects and providers instead of students moving across borders– is becoming an important growth market for the USA, Australia and the UK, Hans de Wit is Professor of Internationalisation of Higher Education at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, and Director of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy. He is the Co-editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education. Address for correspondence: Entrepotdok 206, 1018 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: j.w.m.de.wit@hva.nl

Globalisation and Internationalisation of Higher Education

This thematic issue deals with internationalisation and globalisation in higher education. The five papers that follow this introduction examine some of a broad range of aspects related to this theme and are a reflection of the importance and current attention being paid to the international dimension of higher education in Europe and beyond. Over the past 25 years, the international dimension of higher education has become more central on the agenda of international organisations and national governments, institutions of higher education and their representative bodies, student organisations and accreditation agencies. Uwe Brandenburg and I in a polemic essay, The End of Internationalization (Brandenburg & De Wit, 2011), write:

European Integration in Higher Education: The Bologna Process Towards a European Higher Education Area

In discussing European integration in higher education, one has to keep in mind that Europe is not a homogeneous region; still less is its education homogeneous, as the rationales behind the Bologna Declaration on the European space for higher education of 1999 make manifest. This implies that when analyzing the regionalization of higher education in Europe, one has to take account of several important issues, such as national and regional differences, diversity of languages, different educational traditions and systems, diversity of stakeholders, and the co-existence of universities and a strong non-university sector.1 The Bologna process directed to the realization of a “European Higher Education Area” by 2010, although recognizing this diversity, implies a substantial reform of higher education, beyond the borders of the 25 countries of the European Union. The Bologna Declaration was signed on June 19, 1999, in Bologna, Italy, by the ministers of education of 29 European countries, who based their declaration on the following understanding: “A Europe of knowledge is now widely recognized as an irreplaceable factor for social and human growth and as an indispensable component to consolidate and enrich the European citizenship, capable of giving its citizens the necessary competences to face the challenges of the new millennium, together with an awareness of shared values and belonging to a common social and cultural space. The importance of education and educational cooperation in the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies is universally acknowledged as paramount, the more so in view of the situation in Southeast Europe” (Bologna Declaration, 1999). By 2005, the number of signatory countries had increased to 45, including Russia. All higher education institutions in the signatory countries are supposed to be organized in conformity with the declaration by 2010, even though the declaration is voluntary and not binding for the countries and their institutions. The declaration can be seen in connection with another ambitious process, agreed upon by the members of the European Council at their meeting in Lisbon in March

Global Competition in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Policies, Rationales, and Practices in Australia and Europe

Over the past two decades, competition has become a central preoccupation in higher education, and has moved from the national to the regional and international arenas. The global knowledge economy not only has forced higher education to respond to this development but also has stimulated nations and institutions to become important actors and competitors. It is, however, an overestimation to argue that this is true for all institutions of higher education in all countries and continents in the same way and at the same time.

Internationalization and Global Tension: Lessons From History.

Increasing political and military tension in several parts of the world will inevitably affect international higher education. Nationalist, religious, and ideological conflicts challenge the original ideas of international cooperation and exchange in higher education as promoters of peace and mutual understanding and of global engagement. Since the end of the Cold War, we have not seen this type of tension and turmoil on such a scale. What lessons can we learn from the past in how to act and react in this new environment? In the 20th century, politics and international ideological struggles dominated the world. Academic cooperation and exchange have been critical in maintaining connections between nations and have paved the way for further contacts. Even though we should be realistic that international cooperation and exchange are not a guarantee of peace and mutual understanding, they certainly keep communication open and dialogue active. Will the increasingly widespread conflicts in the world today, based on religious fundamentalism, resurgent nationalism, and other challenges, harm the impressive strides that have been made in international higher education cooperation?

Similar students and different countries? An analysis of the barriers and drivers for ERASMUS participation in seven countries

Increasing participation in the Erasmus study abroad program in Europe is a clear policy goal, and student-reported barriers and drivers are regularly monitored. This article uses student survey data from seven countries to examine the extent to which student-level barriers can explain the considerable cross-country variation in Erasmus participation rates. We observe remarkable similarities between countries with respect to how barriers cluster for students and what barriers characterize non-participants compared with participants. The study confirms that home ties and lack of interest are most robust predictors for non-participation. Data on student-level barriers and motivations, however, give surprisingly little information to explain why students in some countries are considerably more active participants. For further understanding, we need to study more how national and institutional policies and context influence students’ decision making and help them overcome perceived barriers to mobility.

Global and Local Internationalization

Offering a range of perspectives on internationalization in higher education from a globally dispersed group of authors, this book reflects the many facets of the theme. It reminds us that, while internationalization is strongly connected to the globalization of society, at the same time it is deeply embedded in local political, economic and social structures, systems and cultures. The increasing attention given to internationalization by institutions all around the world is leading to diversification and broadening of practice. This in turn deepens our understanding of what is needed to enhance the educational experiences of students, and how the outcomes of internationalization contribute to the skills needed in a globalized and multicultural society. Yet inevitably the impact is becoming more noticeable locally and the six sections of the book focus on these dimensions: - Internationalization in Local and Global Contexts. - Local and Global Drivers for Change. - Global and Local Dimensions of Curriculum Internationalization. - The Outcomes of Local and Global International Education. - Internationalization for Local and Global Employability. - Regional and National Cases of Local and Global Internationalization. How can we define more precise learning outcomes that underpin learning and teaching? How do we avoid the societal risks of internationalization and ensure that internationalization opportunities and benefits are shared equally? How do we prevent brain drain and commercialization? What are the values that underlie our actions? These are just some of the questions that will occupy our minds, locally and globally, in the years to come and which this book seeks to highlight.

Assessing the internationalisation of degree programmes: experiences from a Dutch-Flemish pilot certifying internationalisation

Internationalisation has transformed into mainstream strategy in higher education and is increasingly seen as adding value to the life of universities through improving its quality. But how do we assess the quality of internationalisation? This article evaluates a pilot project that aimed to qualitatively assess the internationalisation of programmes in the Netherlands and Flanders. The project took into account the diversity of internationalisation strategies, the desirability of certification and the increasingly important issue of learning outcomes, focusing especially on the challenging aspects and use of international and intercultural learning outcomes. The key outcome of the project has been the development of a new method for measuring the quality of internationalisation, which highlights the need for an enhanced framework for the interpretation of quality criteria, a stronger focus on relevant institutional contexts and a need to review the standards upon which quality measures can be benchmarked. The decision by European accreditation agencies to extend this methodology to the European level is presented as an important next step.