Internationalising Higher Education

It is argued that many of the activities used to promote the 'internationalisation' of higher education across the world have been generated in Europe, North America and Australia. There is now growing international criticism of these approaches, with a number of concerns. Is there an ever-widening gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' in terms of higher education access and quality? Why is international student mobility so unbalanced and driven in particular by full fee-paying private students from poor countries? Is the concept of higher education as a 'global good' or 'global benefit' no longer relevant? Does greater globalisation benefit disproportionately the international academic and research elites? Why are so few of the international leading institutions and their top staff not addressing the major international issues that confront the many, including lack of access to health care, education, water and sustainable livelihoods? Is there a lack of recognition of the long traditions of scholarship and international academic mobility that go back many centuries in institutions across all continents? This session will explore the background to growing internationalisation policies and seek to provide some contrasting approaches.