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Internationalizing Higher Education Knowledge Content: Acknowledging a pedagogical Quality Assurance Discourse

Wihlborg, Monne LU and Svensson, Lennart LU (2007) Quality Assurance Coming of Age Lessons from the Past and Strategies for the Future p.465-485
Abstract
Internationalisation of higher education is a current theme in research and politics of higher

education. The theme in this paper is related to present developments and concerns of the

growing border-crossing activities that take place between nations and their systems of Higher

Education. Higher education is expected to be based on research, research to be an

international activity, and the universities to have an international orientation also in their

education of students. The dominant discourse on internationalisation of higher education in

research and research based discussions have up till now mainly been from a political, an

economic and an organisational perspective.... (More)
Internationalisation of higher education is a current theme in research and politics of higher

education. The theme in this paper is related to present developments and concerns of the

growing border-crossing activities that take place between nations and their systems of Higher

Education. Higher education is expected to be based on research, research to be an

international activity, and the universities to have an international orientation also in their

education of students. The dominant discourse on internationalisation of higher education in

research and research based discussions have up till now mainly been from a political, an

economic and an organisational perspective. There is also a tendency to place

internationalisation within the frame of globalisation and the increasing trade in educational

services worldwide. We do not dispute that this research is helpful to clarify some main

political and economic conditions for and ways of organising higher education. However, the

research does not give much basis for internationalising the teaching and learning and

development of scholarship. There is an obvious risk of neglecting the meaning of the

development of internationalisation in higher education when it comes to teaching and

learning intercultural knowledge and competencies, and development of scholarship. There is

a need of addressing questions about the internationalising of the content of education. Both at

national and institutional levels, in many countries, internationalisation is stated to be an

educational goal, sometimes discussed as a linear homogenization process, sometimes

emphasizing a pluralistic process, multilingualism and multiculturalism. In some previous

studies we have found that the concretisation of internationalisation as an educational goal is

very unclear. The concrete content considered to represent internationalisation seems to be

rather haphazardly included in the teaching and learning. There is also a tendency to look at

what is considered to be general knowledge and general human qualities as what represents

internationalisation without considering cultural differences. In higher education there is no

institutionalised educational and didactic thinking as a basis for developing

internationalisation of the education. The concrete thinking is very much restricted to

organisational and administrative aspects of the education. The thinking about educational

content and learning outcomes is much idealised and not developed in terms of students’

competencies and capabilities (attitudes and approaches). In this paper we present and discuss

the conditions for an educational didactic framework and approach to internationalisation of

higher education. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
pedagogical perspectiveSoTL, Higher Education, Quality Assurance
categories
Higher Education
host publication
INQAAHE International Quality Assurance in Higher Education
pages
14 pages
conference name
Quality Assurance Coming of Age Lessons from the Past and Strategies for the Future
conference dates
2007-04-02 - 2007-04-05
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Wihlborg and Svensson are both main authors The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Division of Nursing (Closed 2012) (013065000), Education (012013003)
id
43062a93-b7e2-4bbe-965d-11e9c15b74e9 (old id 818540)
alternative location
http://192.139.188.172/inqaahe/index.asp?id1=67
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:35:14
date last changed
2019-08-20 10:00:43
@inproceedings{43062a93-b7e2-4bbe-965d-11e9c15b74e9,
  abstract     = {{Internationalisation of higher education is a current theme in research and politics of higher<br/><br>
education. The theme in this paper is related to present developments and concerns of the<br/><br>
growing border-crossing activities that take place between nations and their systems of Higher<br/><br>
Education. Higher education is expected to be based on research, research to be an<br/><br>
international activity, and the universities to have an international orientation also in their<br/><br>
education of students. The dominant discourse on internationalisation of higher education in<br/><br>
research and research based discussions have up till now mainly been from a political, an<br/><br>
economic and an organisational perspective. There is also a tendency to place<br/><br>
internationalisation within the frame of globalisation and the increasing trade in educational<br/><br>
services worldwide. We do not dispute that this research is helpful to clarify some main<br/><br>
political and economic conditions for and ways of organising higher education. However, the<br/><br>
research does not give much basis for internationalising the teaching and learning and<br/><br>
development of scholarship. There is an obvious risk of neglecting the meaning of the<br/><br>
development of internationalisation in higher education when it comes to teaching and<br/><br>
learning intercultural knowledge and competencies, and development of scholarship. There is<br/><br>
a need of addressing questions about the internationalising of the content of education. Both at<br/><br>
national and institutional levels, in many countries, internationalisation is stated to be an<br/><br>
educational goal, sometimes discussed as a linear homogenization process, sometimes<br/><br>
emphasizing a pluralistic process, multilingualism and multiculturalism. In some previous<br/><br>
studies we have found that the concretisation of internationalisation as an educational goal is<br/><br>
very unclear. The concrete content considered to represent internationalisation seems to be<br/><br>
rather haphazardly included in the teaching and learning. There is also a tendency to look at<br/><br>
what is considered to be general knowledge and general human qualities as what represents<br/><br>
internationalisation without considering cultural differences. In higher education there is no<br/><br>
institutionalised educational and didactic thinking as a basis for developing<br/><br>
internationalisation of the education. The concrete thinking is very much restricted to<br/><br>
organisational and administrative aspects of the education. The thinking about educational<br/><br>
content and learning outcomes is much idealised and not developed in terms of students’<br/><br>
competencies and capabilities (attitudes and approaches). In this paper we present and discuss<br/><br>
the conditions for an educational didactic framework and approach to internationalisation of<br/><br>
higher education.}},
  author       = {{Wihlborg, Monne and Svensson, Lennart}},
  booktitle    = {{INQAAHE International Quality Assurance in Higher Education}},
  keywords     = {{pedagogical perspectiveSoTL; Higher Education; Quality Assurance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{465--485}},
  title        = {{Internationalizing Higher Education Knowledge Content: Acknowledging a pedagogical Quality Assurance Discourse}},
  url          = {{http://192.139.188.172/inqaahe/index.asp?id1=67}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}