Steve Woodfield

Emerging internationalisation models in an uneven global terrain: findings from a global survey

We know little about how internationalisation processes are understood, rationalised and prioritised in different parts of the world. A global survey of internationalisation in universities was undertaken at the University of Southampton to fill this gap. Its purpose was to discover how strategic leaders in universities in different parts of the world defined, rationalised and prioritised a range of familiar internationalisation approaches. Based on a self-completion questionnaire survey administered to 500 universities in six major world regions including South America, North America, Middle East nations, Asian nations, Australia and New Zealand and sub-Saharan Africa, findings were processed from just under 200 responding universities. The findings suggest that internationalisation strategies in universities across the world seem to be based on three emergent value driven models. In western universities, a commercial imperative appears to underpin the internationalisation processes and understanding. In Confucian and many Middle East nations, there is a deep-seated cultural imperative at the heart of the internationalisation agenda. In the poorer universities of the south, a curriculum-value driven process seems to characterise the internationalisation priorities of universities there. The paper concludes that despite the global rhetoric about an emerging isomorphism in HE, wide disparities continue to exist, which entrench the poverty differentials that have always existed between universities in the north and those in the south. Further research is needed that identifies ways to develop a more responsible commercial purpose that can be reconciled with the needs of universities in the poorer parts of the world.

Contemporary issues on the internationalisation of higher education: critical and comparative perspectives

The internationalisation of higher education (HE) is a salient development and is regularly discussed at both institutional and system levels. In recent years, internationalisation has generated much policy-related, academic and institutional research. In this special issue we present examples of how HE researchers are beginning to undertake a broader range of studies related to the internationalisation of their sector, going far beyond the traditional (and much researched) focus on the commercial aspects of international HE (particularly international recruitment). Although the term ‘internationalisation’ means different things to different people. in different contexts, there is a growing recognition of the need to ‘rethink’ internationalisation to take account of these multiple perspectives and different meanings of the concept. Hudzik (2011) has called for a ‘comprehensive’ conceptualisation of internationalisation that is broader in scope and scale than traditional approaches and that can operate as an organising paradigm for institutions and sub-units. This conception goes beyond the dualistic ‘internationalisation at home’ and ‘internationalisation abroad’ categories that have traditionally been used in the field (Knight 2008). This wide-ranging conception is far-removed from commercial approaches that have both shaped and responded to human mobility needs and fuelled fierce competition in the international student and staff recruitment markets. This broadening of the internationalisation paradigm is also reflected in recent research, which has begun to focus in more detail on improving the quality of teaching and learning in an increasingly international and global HE environment. We are starting to witness a growing interest in research that seeks to explore ways in which international teaching-learning spaces in HE can be more inclusive and pedagogically compatible with the increasingly multicultural nature of these new learning spaces. This special issue provides a collection of articles from arguably some of the most passionate researchers in this emerging area of internationalisation and globalisation of HE. The articles provide a clear sense of the shift in Compare, 2013 Vol. 43, No. 1, 1–8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.746545

The quality of higher education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract The higher education (H.E.) sector in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (K.R.I.) has expanded rapidly in the last two decades, but there has been only limited quality control of the H.E. system. This exploratory study examines the perceptions of university representatives about the quality of H.E. in the Region. It explores the higher education system from the perspective of the academic staff and university leaders, with a focus on evaluating the system’s quality. The findings from the analysis of a quantitative online questionnaire survey carried out in four public universities in the region are presented and discussed, comparing the responses from different groups of respondents. The survey used closed questions, although respondents could add open-ended textual comments at the end of the questionnaire. The sample population was comprised of 703 participants, and the survey included the following dimensions of quality: teaching; leadership; facilities; funding and employability. The results demonstrate that the majority of respondents were critical of the H.E. system in the region. Only 15 per cent of respondents had positive perceptions about the current H.E. system, and more than 60 per cent were negative. Furthermore, the leadership of the universities were also dissatisfied with both the H.E. system and their own role.