An investigation into the issues of staff’s conceptions and experiences of internationalisation and the implications for its delivery in Higher Education

Abstract

This study investigated staff conceptions of internationalisation from a Health Sciences Faculty perspective in a university in the South of England. Of particular interest were the conceptions of internationalisation that staff use, the constituents of internationalisation, the process that it followed and what staff considered to be the implications for delivery of a programme of internationalisation. Findings were based on an initial questionnaire and interviews with members of academic staff within the Faculty. A phenomenological approach was adopted for the analysis. There were several key outcomes of the study. Internationalisation was considered as developing people’s knowledge of global issues, their awareness of other ways of knowing and being, growth in intercultural sensitivity and skills and ability to see the bigger picture and their position within it. Participants considered that internationalisation was also enhancing people’s ability both to cooperate and collaborate with others and adapt to a changing world. Acquiring knowledge, skills and vision was the basis for this. Internationalisation was considered a process where the stages of input, activities, output and outcome formed the signposts of a complex, interlinked set of stages. The internationalisation stages were positioned within a surrounding external environment of overarching issues that influenced it at different levels (global, national, HE and individual). Strategy was central to the process and was achieved when the resources, input and activities were weighed against the tangible benefits, outcomes and profits gained against a background of how the institution interpreted and managed changes in the external environment.

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