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Defining 'internationalisation at home'

In recent discussions on the internationalisation of higher education, the constant introduction of new terms and definitions has rightly been criticised. Although we are fully aware of this, we consider that the importance of clarifying the concept of 'internationalisation at home' overrides the urge to limit the number of definitions. We have recently proposed a new definition of internationalisation at home. Although defining it does not guarantee its implementation, since there are fundamental challenges to be overcome, it is hoped that this redefinition might bring implementation a step closer.

International officers finding their role in internationalisation at home

Though internationalisation at home is a relatively recent concept, it has already been embraced widely, particularly in northern and western Europe. Internationalisation at home aims to bring internationalisation to all students through the home curriculum. It is therefore primarily about teaching and learning, which implies that lecturers are increasingly becoming prominent players in internationalisation. After all, they are the ones who create learning environments with international and intercultural dimensions. In today’s blog, internationalisation at home expert Jos Beelen looks at where the international officer fits in.

Towards a typology of internationalisation at home activities in academic disciplines

Increasingly, internationalisation at home and internationalisation of the curriculum are adopted by universities across the globe but their systemic implementation is a complex process. For instance, academics and academic disciplines understand and approach internationalisation differently, as previous studies have shown. However, there is little research on the role of such disciplinary perspectives in relation to different internationalisation practices and interventions. Using the Becher-Biglan framework of academic tribes, this exploratory study compares 12 undergraduate programmes at a Dutch university of applied sciences and addresses the question if the different disciplinary approaches to internationalisation as identified in previous studies are also reflected in the choices of internationalisation at home activities. The findings show there is more variation in the range of activities rather than in the types of activities and that it is within the rationales underlying those choices where the influence of disciplinary perspectives is more visible.

Overcoming obstacles to Internationalisation at Home

Since the late nineties, there has throughout Europe been a growing focus on internationalisation of curricula. This may be seen as a reaction to the traditional and sustained focus on internationalisation abroad. It became clear that internationalisation abroad would always be a domain of a (small) minority of students. Therefore, if intercultural and international competences would be considered essential for all students, the curriculum would remain the only available tool to ensure that students would actually acquire these. This was the situation in 1999, when Bengt Nilsson coined the term 'Internationalisation at home' and it had remained fundamentally unchanged.

Why we should continue to ask critical questions about internationalisation at home

Long before the COVID pandemic, we had already realised that traditional forms of internationalisation had their limitations. Mobility of students had remained limited to a small minority of students, a ‘cultural elite’. We had also become aware that student mobility was mostly from the global north to the south and that some of its effects were unwanted, and could lead to ‘white saviourism’. Finally, before the COVID pandemic we were already discussing the CO2 imprint of mobility and considering ‘greener’ forms of mobility of students and staff. More than twenty years ago, around 2000, attempts had already emerged to bring the benefits of internationalisation to all students through internationalisation at home. At the time, this was defined as “Any internationally related activity with the exception of outbound student and staff mobility”. This definition did not mention explicitly that all students were targeted and also omitted the purpose of these activities.

Global at home