Transcript All about internationalisation

How important is the local
when thinking global?
Internationalisation at a research
led university
Ian Willis
Research Seminar
28 October 2009
‘Local’ - key emergent theme
• Journey
– Local was NOT starting place
– 2nd beginning was on rationales, drivers and
restrainers for internationalisation
• University is NW & research led!
– Confidential
– Major changes underway
• Internationalisation & globalisation: brief
• Theoretical focus
• Local considerations
– emerged as a strong theme in analysis
Levels
Inter-connected
Inter-acting
Nested
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Global
International
(Europe)
National
University
(Departmental)
Individual
Globalisation
– what on earth is it?
Globalisation in terms of:
• Ethnicity
• Ideas
• Media
• Finance
• Technology
Key notions:
Flows
Global events induce local
responses
Appadurai 1996
Global
The existence of global
economic, political,
cultural and environmental
interconnections and flows
that make many of the
existing borders and
boundaries irrelevant
Steger 2003
Note:
Complex
Inter-relations, flows, dynamic
Beyond states
Economic dimension
inescapable but much more
going on
BUT: states remain very
powerful including in
education
Globalisation and
internationalisation
Related and interconnected but not the same
Internationalisation is one of the responses
that HEIs are making through their strategies,
policies and activities (UNESCO 2004, Altbach & Knight 2007)
Responses will be local, situated and
prescribed by the realities of individual HEIs
Internationalisation
The process of integrating an international,
intercultural and/or global dimension into the
goals, functions (teaching/learning, research,
services) and delivery of higher education
(Knight 2005)
This is very commonly cited
• Note: integration
Rationales – why bother?
Rationales
Constituent elements or focus
Social and
cultural
Intercultural understanding, Citizenship, Social and
community development
Economic
Economic competitiveness, Labour market, Income
generation
Academic
International dimension to research and teaching,
Institution-building, Profile and status, Enhancement of
quality and curriculum, Collaborations
Competitive
International branding and positioning, Strategic
alliances, Knowledge production & exchange
Developmental
Student and staff development, Institutional learning
and exchange, Capacity building
Question: Is it a......
1. Theoretical framework
2. Conceptual framework
3. Organising framework
4. Plain old framework
Force field analysis
Lewin
Social Practice Theory
Trowler
Transformative globalisation
Held et al, Tikly,
Appadurai
Knight, Middlehurst
& Woodfield
Marginson &
Rhoades
Vaira
Internationalisation rationales
‘Glonacal-agency’ heuristic
Organisational
Isomorphism/Allomorphism
Structure/Agency
‘Philosophy of Higher Education’
Giddens, Archer,
Bhaskar
Barnett
Organising the level & complexity
• Lewin’s Force field analysis
– Driving and restraining forces for change
• Social Practice Theory: Trowler
– ‘Situates’ change
• Transformative globalisation
– Emphasises local responses to global flows/forces
Forces potentially acting to restrain
internationalisation
Global
Rejection of globalisation discourse, credit crunch
Institutional
Conflicting university agendas and priorities
Existing positions and interests
Individual
Locally based research, commitment to local concerns
Questioning of globalisation discourse & marketisation
Views on ‘purpose’ of university
Existing positions and interests
Forces: potential to drive internationalisation
Global
Neo-liberal economics, trade agreements
New markets, competition, demand
Global research, Global challenges
ICT, English worldwide, staff & student mobility
National policies
Economic view of internationalisation
Relative reduction in funding
More Forces: potential to drive
Institutional
Economic pressure, competition
‘Global University’, Reputation (research led)
International league tables
Existing traditions & international collaborations
Educational drive for international dimension
Individual
International research interests
Acceptance of market discourse
Existing positions and interests
‘Glonacal-agency’ heuristic
• Global - National – Local
– All important
• Agency: looking at how individuals
act/influence at all levels
• ‘Layers and conditions’
–Changes mediated by local histories
and aims
Marginson & Rhoades
Structure/Agency
• Argued that each level creates a structure
within which level below acts agentially
• Global forces create context that calls for a
university response
– Often meaning internationalisation
• University’s internationalisation creates
context: individual response
These responses can in turn influence ‘up’
Structure/Agency
• Provides an explanation of how individual
interests (projects) are the locus of
concern/action
• Shows agential action can shape structures
– Over time
• Theoretical argument
– Why to engage with individual interests
– Supported in the findings
University / Individual
• University linking internationalisation aims to
individual ‘projects’ can be a key to successful
development
• Doing it just for the money won’t work
• Need for a nuanced message
• Monash require any internationalisation
activity to explicitly serve an academic
function
Back to the Framework
What is it.........?
Theoretical, Conceptual
Organising or Plain old?
Ask the audience!
• Does it work OK?
• Questions/comments
• Thank you
Bonus slides follow
How new is it ?
Debated – here’s one view
Four major cycles:
1.
1492 - Spain and Portugal colonise S America etc. World (oceanic) trade
established
2.
Late 17th Cent – 2nd European colonisation, slave trade, trade gives over
to conquest
3.
Late 19th Cent – huge increase in trade, mass migration to Americas.
Last colonies fought for. Ends with 1930s depression
4.
Post WW2 – trade liberalisation, intensifies 1967 – 1980s
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Initial gains unequally distributed, but eventually trickle down (?)
Greater gains overall to those that globalised. Often caused great suffering
‘Elites’ have more in common with elites in other countries than with own people
National messages & pressures
• HE as a business is very important to UK economy
– Income: ~ £17bn, Economic impact: £42.5bn,
– 1.2% of workforce: 330,000 direct (600,000 total
impact)
• Most UK national messages are economic
• Knowledge economy is accepted
• Most governments want mass education and
spending contained
– These are real pressures for HEIs
– Leads to mix of public/private income
– 61% public, 27% private, 12% ‘export’
Figures from Universities UK for 2003-4
Globalisation:
Contested
Different views
Different assumptions
3 broad
approaches each contains
plurality of views
Hyperglobalist:
Triumph of global capitalism
Demise of nation state
Sceptical:
Just regionalism
Polarisation: developed and developing
Nation state now more important in managing
crisis in capitalism
Education is national
Transformational:
Interconnectedness; both integration and
fragmentation.
Some enmeshed in global order others
marginalised
Relationships cross national boundaries
Nations retain power but transformed by ideas
of international governance and law
Globalisation – summary notes
Flows, Intensity, Speed
Homogenisation & localisation
Economics (neo-liberal) as major driver
Knowledge Economy, Competition, GATs
Education: a product and part of globalising process
WW educational (credentialing) system, English, Staff &
Student mobility
Global challenges
Global research collaboration