Globalization and Internationalisation of Higher Education

Abstract

Internationalisation has become increasingly more important and mainstream in higher education at institutional, national and international levels. The globalisation of our economies and societies has had an impact on higher education in the past 25 years, and higher education itself has become an actor in the global knowledge economy, in research and in other areas involving such aspects as student recruitment, branch campuses, franchise operations and so on. Both cooperation and competition are key rationales for the international dimension of higher education. This development creates myths and misconceptions about the concept of the internationalisation of higher education that need to be recognised and tackled. What do we mean by internationalisation? How has globalisation - and, in Europe, regionalisation, the Bologna Process and the Lisbon Strategy - impacted on the international dimension of higher education? What myths and misconceptions have emerged? These are some of the questions that will be addressed.