An introduction to thinking about internationalisation of the curriculum

V.A. Clifford, 2013

Abstract

This article is designed to start you thinking about what 'Internationalisation of the Curriculum' is, or might be, and your own positioning re internationalisation.

Background

The last decade has seen a global trend in universities declaring that they are 'international' and a proliferation of 'Internationalisation Strategy' documents. The main thrust of these documents is the marketing of the university to attract international students, and support for international students, the impetus being an economic rather than an altruistic one. What is noticeable by its absence, generally, is any reference to the curriculum.

Myths about internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC)

I would like to start to address this absence of attention to the curriculum by looking at some myths about IoC.

Myth 1: An international curriculum is about teaching international students

An international curriculum is for all students. The majority of students in tertiary institutions are home students and their need for 'internationalisation' is greater than that of the international students. International students are already living, working and studying in a foreign environment, often also having to communicate in a foreign language. Even those whose first language is English may find that the English they speak carries different meanings to that of the local students. Nilsson (2003) coined the term 'Internationalisation at Home' to move the focus from international students to all students.

Myth 2: An international curriculum is a specialist course

There are many courses in universities that deal with international, global and development issues but these form only part of the concept of an international curriculum.

Myth 3: One module taken in a degree programme suffices

Again, internationalisation is a concept that needs to permeate through a whole course and not to be compartmentalised.

Myth 4: Adding a few international materials to a course provides global perspectives

This may be a good first step to internationalising a curriculum, but it is only a step on a longer journey. Students have noted that when presented with such materials 'they did not feel that they were learning in a multi-cultural way' and that the materials are too limited to give any understanding of the culture in question (Clifford, 2010).

Myth 5: Some disciplines are already international

All knowledge is developed within a socio-cultural-historical context and develops over time; no knowledge is static. When people argue that their discipline is already international they usually mean that western concepts of areas such as science, mathematics and information technology strive to establish universal principles that 'work' anywhere in the world. In doing this they 'overlook' the developmental history of all ideas and the authenticity of ideas developed in other cultures. In more applied areas it is recognised that where theory intersects with practice that the theory may behave differently in different environments and needs to be rethought.

If these are all myths, what then is IoC?

Discovering our internationalised selves

The starting point for IoC is the internationalisation of ourselves. Students have said that if the staff are not internationalised then there is no hope of their curriculum being internationalised (Clifford, 2010) and staff have agreed (Clifford, 2009b; Leask, 2006). We need to be able to step outside of ourselves and look at our own lives, behaviours, values and attitudes, as they might appear to someone from another culture, so that we can start questioning ourselves. Why do we believe A? Why do we behave like B? Why do we think that C is good and D is bad? Why do we value E behaviour more than F? And so on.

One way we can start to see ourselves is through travelling and working overseas. Seeing the cultures of other societies highlights how we are different to them and that society can be organised in different ways and still work well. Another way that we are confronted is by contact with people from other cultures in our own society, e.g. when international students don't behave as we expect in class or don't respond in social interaction as we expect. Such incidents highlight our own difference and provide a mirror for us to see ourselves.

You might like to think about how aware you are of your own culture and what has influenced that awareness. Have you travelled, worked, lived overseas? Are members of your family from other cultures? Do you work with colleagues from other cultures? Are you concerned with global issues? How do all these experiences make you feel about yourself? I worked in Fiji for two years and lived through the second Fijian coup. I left there with a whole new identity as a white colonial imperialist carrying the sins of my forbears on my shoulders. Previously I had never considered that I was guilty of the actions of past generations, and that no-one could ever accuse me of being anything but liberal and I hoped that some of my motivations were altruistic. In Fiji I discovered that my white skin said it all - there was nothing else to say. This was a profound shock to me and has totally changed how I see people from other cultures perceiving me, and, therefore, my expectations of the way we will behave towards each other and what we will think of each other. There are the two 'yous' - the person you think you are and the person others perceive you to be. Do you know how people from other cultures perceive you?

The next question is 'how prepared are you to teach an internationalised curriculum?' You might like to spend some time going through the checklist related to this question on the Centre for Curriculum Internationalisation website.

Reflect on your answers. Does anything about your answers surprise you or indicate areas that you might like to explore further?

In this reading I have suggested a number of things that IoC is not, and asked you to think about your own identity and experience of internationalisation. Next week we will start to explore the literature on what IoC is or could be.

References