Internationalisation of the curriculum is concerned with preparing graduates to live and work effectively and ethically in an increasingly interconnected world.
Universities have a responsibility to prepare all graduates to live as well as work in a global society – a complex interlocking world where the local and the global are increasingly connected (Nussbaum 2002). An internationalised curriculum will recognise that as graduates, all students will have social and cultural as well as economic roles and responsibilities. Wherever they are, their lives and their work will be influenced by the global environment. International and intercultural skills and knowledge, an awareness of and commitment to connecting positively with cultural others, and the ability to think ‘locally, nationally and globally’ (Rizvi & Lingard 2010, p. 201) will be important in this world.
As a process, internationalisation of the curriculum is an important part of the periodic, critical review of the curriculum. It should include reflection on the impact and outcomes of teaching and assessment practices on student learning, and a review of content and pedagogy. In this process it is important to recognise past successes as well as imagining new possibilities and striving to improve the curriculum. The latter is critical given the rapid rate at which the world around us is changing.
The following definitions have been are widely used across the higher education internationalisation literature and research. They are intended to be a starting place for reflection and further exploration.
The intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post‑secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful contribution to society (de Wit & Hunter, 2015, p. 2).
The process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension into higher education, emerging from interactions underpinned by collaborative networks, with socio-economic blocs and other actors who value multiple cultures, differences and times, strengthening the national scientific-technological capacity, connected to local contexts, seeking to foster sustainable development (Morosini, 2017, p. __). Marilia’s concept (2017)
Incorporating international, intercultural and/or global dimensions into the content of the curriculum as well as the learning outcomes, assessment tasks, teaching methods and support services of a program of study (Leask, 2015, p. 9).
The purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments (Beelen & Jones, 2015, p. 69).
A commitment, confirmed through action, to infuse international and comparative perspectives throughout the teaching, research, and service missions of higher education. It shapes institutional ethos and values and touches the entire higher education enterprise. It is essential that it be embraced by institutional leadership, governance, faculty, students, and all academic service and support units. It is an institutional imperative, not just a desirable possibility… [It] not only impacts all campus life but the institutions’ external frames of reference, partnerships and relations (Hudzik, 2015, p. 7).
Demands a commitment to the training of thoughtful practitioners in the field, working in tandem with researchers, policymakers, and institutional leaders who are sensitive to the practicalities that reside within the “big issues” dominating so many strategic discussions about internationalisation today (Rumbley, 2015, p. 17).
The critical analysis of and an engagement with complex, interdependent global systems and legacies (such as natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, and political) and their implications for people’s lives and the earth’s sustainability (Green, 2019, p. 12).
Suggests possibilities for collaborative practices in global learning, which recognize value and use students’ diverse perspectives, knowledge, skills, and experiences (Green, 2019, p. 14).
Repositions teachers and learners in relation to each other and to the work they undertake at university (Matthews, 2017). It suggests a powerful—and quite radical—alternate social imaginary to the neoliberalism because students “as partners” are not viewed as customers consuming the products of lecturers’ labour, but rather co-producers of knowledge (Green, 2019, p. 14).
Mutually respectful interactions and dialogue between people from different cultures, that promote mutual understanding while preserving the cultural identity of each individual. Importantly, the concept of interculturality not only refers to the relations that develop between individuals belonging to different countries or regions of the world, it also takes into account individuals who are within the same community but who have different characteristics from an ethnic, social or other point of view (Leask, 2021).
The sequenced program of teaching and learning activities and experiences organised around defined content areas, topics, and resources, the objectives of which are assessed in various ways including examinations and various types of assignments, laboratory sessions, and other practical activities (Leask, 2009, p. 207).
What students are provided with such as module frameworks, prescribed readings and assessment guides (Le Grange, 2019, p. 7).
The various extracurricular activities that take place on campus: those optional activities that are not part of the formal requirements of the degree or program of study, which nevertheless contribute to and in many ways define the culture of the campus and thus are an important part of the landscape in which the formal curriculum is enacted (Leask, 2009, p. 207).
Incidental lessons that are learned about power and authority, what and whose knowledge is valued and what and whose knowledge is not valued, from such things as which textbook and references are used and the way that in-class and out-of-class activities are organised. The lessons learned from the hidden curriculum can be both positive and negative (Leask, 2009, p. 207).
What students learn about the dominate culture of a university and what values it reproduces (Le Grange, 2019, p. 7).
what universities leave out – what is not taught and learned in a university (e.g., indigenous knowledges)… (Le Grange, 2019, p. 7).
Curriculum may also be conceived of as:
An umbrella term for diverse efforts to resist the distinct but intertwined processes of colonisation and racialisation, to enact transformation and redress in reference to the historical and ongoing effects of these processes, and to create and keep alive modes of knowing, being, and relating that these processes seek to eradicate (Stein & Andreotti, 2017, p. 370).
Is all embracing in that it cannot happen in a piecemeal fashion, where one or two individuals tinker with their module frameworks – rather, it requires all role players to become involved. Two important groups are teaching academics, and academic developers, whose task it is to support academics in the redesign of the curriculum.
Is not an event but a process and it is not necessarily easy to achieve (Le Grange, 2019, p. 5).
Is a ‘normative principle for the equal treatment of all forms of knowledge’ (Van der Velden, n.d., p. 12). This does not mean that all forms of knowledge are equal, but that the equality of knowers forms the basis of dialogue between knowledges, and that what is required for democracy is a dialogue amongst knowers and their knowledges…
Cognitive justice allows for the unknown, and the awareness that our knowledge forms have absences (Sousa Santos, 2014). It requires difference in order for democracy and creativity to flow and it is an awareness that all knowledges can and should be flexible: “Cognitive justice is not a lazy kind of insistence that every kind of knowledge survives as is” (Visvanathan, 2016, p.5/8) (Leibowitz, 2017, pp. 100,101).
Is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice (National Academy of Sciences, 2005, p. 39)
Interdisciplinary approaches in the social sciences involve, at a minimum, the application of insights and perspectives from more than one conventional discipline to the understanding of social phenomena (Miller, 2017, np.)
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