Why should we internationalise our programmes?

Current and future students will work in a rapidly changing world that differs significantly from the present situation. Therefore, Internationalisation is an important topic for universities in the Netherlands. This can be read in the vision statement of The Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) and in the vision statements of the participating universities.

Advocates of internationalisation of student learning claim that itprepares students for global citizenship and the global workforce (Jones, 2013). Research on the benefits of internationalisation for student learning at the University of Minnesota (Yefanova, Baird and Montgomery, 2015, p.14) shows that cross-national interactions have an impact on the attitudes, knowledge and skills of domestic and international students. Their research also shows that this learning only takes place when there are cross-cultural interactions, which is not a natural consequence of having students from different nationalities in the classroom. Effective cross-cultural interactions have to be organised and this toolbox supports that, starting with the solutions and resources below.

Solutions

  1. Make an inventory of what the employers expect of the graduates of your programme. The article of Jones (2013) summarises some research done in this field.
  2. Ask the students and teaching staff about their opinion on how international the current programme is and what could be added or changed. Mabin (2012) explains how they did this at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
  3. Read about the preconditions to make internationalisation work: Leask and Carroll (2011), Yefanova et. al (2015) and Mabin et. al (2016).


Resources

  1. Jones, E. (2013). Internationalization and employability: the role of intercultural experiences in the development of transferable skills. Public Money & Management, 33(2), 95-104.
  2. Mabin, V. (2012). A survey to assess the level of internationalisation of the student experience. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Western Decision Sciences Institute, Waikoloa, Hawaii, April 3-6 2012.  
  3. Mabin, V., Commons, K., Gao, X. & Plimmer, G. (2016). Internationalisation in the curriculum: using cultural diversity to enhance student learning. Victoria University of Wellington.  
  4. Yefanova, D.,  Baird, L. & Montgomery, M.L. (2015). Study of the educational impact of international students in campus internationalization at the university of Minnesota. Report Phase one.  
  5. Leask, B. & Carroll, J. (2011). Moving beyond ‘wishing and hoping’: internationalisation and student experiences of inclusion and engagement. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(5), 647-659.