Emerging Concept of Internationalisation in South African Higher Education: Conversations on Local and Global Exposure at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online February, 2011
Emerging Concept of Internationalisation in South African Higher Education: Conversations on Local and Global Exposure at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
Rather than paying attention to the specific approaches emerging from different contexts, current debates tend to privilege Western-universalizing concepts of internationalisation, unproblematically accepted as globally established truths. In South Africa, where the legacy of isolation and the dominance of Eurocentricism in academia have inspired considerable scepticism regarding internationalisation, the challenge is to find innovative approaches that account for its specific context. This article responds to this challenge by examining the emerging concept of internationalisation at Wits. It does so with reference to three questions: What conceptions inform the internationalisation practice at Wits? Does Wits have appropriate strategies in place to promote internationalisation? How do these match its particular circumstances?
Alence, R. ( 2007). Experiences of Wits’ institutional culture: Staff perceptions and reflections (A research briefing paper ). Johannesburg, South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand, Centre for Africa’s International Relations .
2.
Allen, M., & Ogilvie, L. ( 2004). Internationalization of higher education: Potentials and pitfalls for nursing education. International Nursing Review, 51, 73-80.
3.
Altbach, P.G. ( 2002). Perspectives on internationalizing higher education . Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/News27/text004.htm
4.
Altbach, P.G. ( 2004). Higher education crosses borders: Can the United States remain the top destination for foreign students. Change , 36(2), 18-24.
5.
Altbach, P.G. ( 2004a). Globalization and the university: Myths and realities in an unequal world. In National Education Association (Ed.), The NEA 2005 almanac of higher education (pp. 63-74). Washington, DC: National Education Association .
6.
Altbach, P.G. & Knight, J. ( 2007) The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motivations and Realities. Journal of Studies in International Education , 11, 290-305.
7.
Altbach, P.G., & Teichler, U. ( 2001). Internationalisation and exchanges in a globalised university . Journal for Studies in International Education , 5(1), 5-25.
8.
Anderson, B., & Maharasoa, M. ( 2002). Internationalisation of higher education: Facilitating partnerships between universities. South African Journal of Higher Education, 16(1), 15-21.
9.
Bernstein, B. ( 1990). The structuring of pedagogic practice. London: Routledge.
10.
Bernstein, B. ( 2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique (Rev. ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
11.
Brown, L. ( 2008). Language and anxiety: An ethnographic study of international postgraduate students. Evaluation and Research in Education , 21(2), 75-95.
12.
Chan, W.W.Y., & Dimmock, C. ( 2008). The internationalization of universities: Globalist, internationalist and translocalist models. Journal of Research in International Education, 7, 184-204.
13.
Cross, M. ( 1999). Imagery of identity in South African education, 1880-1990 . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
14.
Cross, M. ( 2004). Institutionalizing Campus Diversity in South Africa Higher Education: Review of Diversity Scholarship and Diversity Education , Higher Education, 47(4), 2004, pp. 387- 410.
15.
Cross, M., & Johnson, B. ( 2003). Establishing a space of dialogue and possibilities: Campus climate and diversity challenge at the University of the Witwatersrand ( Report for the School of Education). Johannesburg, South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand .
16.
Cross, M., & Rouhani, S. ( 2004). Vanishing borders and new boundaries: Student and staff mobility and the internationalisation of South African higher education . In P. T. Zeleza & A. Olukoshi (Eds.), African universities in the twenty-first century. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.
17.
Cross, M., Sehoole, T., Mhlanga, E., Byars-Ameguide, P., Inglis, J., & Koen, C. ( 2004). University experience in the 21st century: Perceptions of global and local exposure at the University of the Witwatersrand (Report) . Johannesburg, South Africa: School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand.
18.
Cross, M., Shalem, Y., Backhouse, J., Adam, F., & Baloyi, L. ( 2007). CHE institutional culture, throughput and retention project University of the Witwatersrand (A draft report for the Council for Higher Education). Pretoria, South Africa: Council for Higher Education.
19.
Crossman, P., & Devisch, R. ( 2002). Endogenous knowledge in anthropological perspective . In C. A. O. Hoppers (Ed.), Indigenous knowledge and the integration of knowledge systems: Towards a philosophy of articulation. Claremont, South Africa: New Africa Books, pp. 96-125.
20.
De Wit, H. ( 2002). Internationalization of higher education in the United States of America and Europe: A historical, comparative, and conceptual analysis . Westport, CT: Greenwood .
21.
De Wit, H. ( 2005). Rationales for internationalization of higher education . Retrieved February 20, 2007, from http://www.ipv.pt/millenium/wit11.htm
22.
Frølich, N., & Veiga, A. ( 2005, April 22-23). Competition, cooperation, consequences and choices internationalisation in higher education. Paper presented at the EAIE/EAIR Joint Seminar, Amsterdam .
23.
Healey, N.M. ( 2008). Is higher education in really "internationalizing "? Higher Education, 55, 333-355.
24.
Hoppers, C. A. O. (Ed.). (2002). Indigenous knowledge and the integration of knowledge systems: Towards a philosophy of articulation. Claremont, South Africa: New Africa Books, pp. vii-xiv.
25.
Huisman, J. ( 2007, July 4). Research on the internationalisation of higher education: The state of the art. Paper prepared for the Seminar on the Internationalisation of Higher Education, Department of Education, University of Bath. Retrieved July 17, 2008 , from http://people.bath.ac.uk/edpjba/INT_seminar/Research_on_the_Internationalisation_of_Higher_Education.doc
26.
Jeevanantham, L.S. ( 1999). Transforming higher education: Moving subjugated discourse from periphery to the centre In M. Cross (Ed.), No Easy Road: Transforming Higher Education in South Africa (pp. 54-76). Cape Town, South Africa: Longman.
27.
Kishun, R. ( 2007). The internationalisation of higher education in South Africa: Progress and challenges. Journal for Studies in International Education, 11, 455-469.
28.
Knight, J. ( 2003). Updating the Definition of Internationalization , International Higher Education, Fall 2003 : Centre for International Higher Education (Boston College).
29.
Knight, J. ( 2004a). Internationalization remodelled: Definitions, rationales and approaches. Journal for Studies in International Education , 8(1), 5-31.
30.
Knight, J. ( 2004b, April 27-29). Crossborder education in a trade environment: Complexities and policy implications. In The implications of WTO/GATS for higher education in Africa (pp. 59-105). Accra, Ghana: Association of African Universities.
31.
Knight, J. ( 2005). An internationalization model: Responding to new realities and challenges. In H. De Wit , I. C. Jaramillo, J. Gacel-Ávila , & J. Knight (Eds.), Higher education in Latin America: The international dimension. Directions in development (pp. 1-38). Washington, DC: The World Bank.
32.
Knight, J. ( 2007). Internationalization brings important benefits as well as risks. International Higher Education, 46. Retrieved April 26, 2009, from http://www.unesco.org/iau/internationalization/index.html
33.
Knight, J. ( 2008). The internationalization of higher education: Are we on the right track? Retrieved November 11, 2008, from http://www.academicmatters.ca/current_issue.article.gk?catalog_item_id=1234&category=/issues/OCT2008
34.
Kraak, A. ( 2004). Discursive tensions in South African higher education, 1990 to 2002. Journal for Studies in International Education , 8, 244-281.
35.
Leask, B. ( 2001). Bridging the gap: Internationalizing university curricula . Journal of Studies in International Education , 5(2), 100-115.
36.
Lee, J.J., & Rice, C. ( 2007). Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination. Higher Education, 53, 381-409.
37.
Lukes, S. ( 1973). Emile Durkheim: His life and work. London: Allen Lane.
38.
Makgoba, M.W. ( 1999). The African University and its Challenges in Transformation In M. Cross (Ed.), No Easy Road: Transforming Higher Education in South Africa. Cape TownLongman Publishers, pp. 7-20.
39.
Maiworm, F., & Teichler, U. ( 1995). ERASMUS Student Mobility Programmes 1991/92 in the view of the local directors (ERASMUS Monograph No.19. Werkstattberichte-Band46). Brussels, Belgium: ERASMUS Bureau .
40.
Mestenhauser, J.A., & Ellingboe, B.J. (1998). Reforming the higher education curriculum: Internationalizing the campus. Phoenix, AZ : American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education.
41.
Moll, I. ( 2004). Curriculum responsiveness: The anatomy of a concept . In H. Griessel (Ed.), Curriculum responsiveness: Case studies in higher education. Pretoria : South African Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Associations.
42.
Mseleku, T. ( 2004). African scholarship: Some challenges facing intellectuals in South African higher education institutions. Ingede: Journal of African Scholarship, 1(2), 1-2.
43.
Nyborg, P. ( 1996). International student mobility: The Nordic experience . European Journal of Education, 3, 193-203.
44.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ( 2004). Internationalisation and trade in higher education . Paris: Author.
45.
Ramphele, M. ( 1999). Immigration and education: International students at South African universities and technikons (Migration Policy Series Number12). Cape Town and Kingston: The Southern African Migration Project .
46.
Rouhani, S. ( 2007). Internationalisation of South African higher education in the Post-Apartheid Era. Journal for Studies in International Education, 11, 470-485.
47.
Sanderson, G. ( 2008). A foundation for the internationalization of the academic self. Journal of Studies in International Education , 12, 276-307.
48.
Scott, P. ( 2000). Globalisation and higher education: Challenges for the 21st century. Journal for Studies in International Education , 4(3), 5-10.
49.
Seepe, S. ( 1999). Quoted by Victor Mecoamere in the Africanisation of knowledge . Retrieved February 6, 2008, from http://www.afrofuturism.net/text/Manifestos/Sipho.html
50.
Seepe, S. (Ed.). (2004). Towards an African identity of higher education. Pretoria , South Africa: Vista University & Skotaville Media .
51.
Sehoole, C.T. ( 2006). Internationalisation of higher education in South Africa: A historical review. Perspectives in Education, 24(4), 1-13.
52.
Seidel, H. ( 1991). Internationalisation: A New Challenge for Universities . Higher Education, 21(3), 289-296.
53.
Shinn, C., Welch, A., & Bagnall, N. ( 1999). Culture of competition? Comparing international student policy in the United States and Australia. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 23(1), 81-89.
54.
Sporer, Z. ( 2000). Controversies of globalization. Revija za Sociologiju, 3(3-4), 1-20.
55.
Teichler, U. ( 1999). Internationalisation as a challenge for higher education in Europe. Tertiary Education and Management, 5(1), 5-22.
56.
Turpin, T., Iredale, R., & Crinnion, P. ( 2002). The internationalization of higher education: Implications for Australia and its education "clients." Minerva , 40, 327-340.
57.
van der Wende, M. ( 2001). Internationalization Policies: About New Trends and Contrasting ParadigmsHigher Education Policy, 14, 249-259.
58.
Van Zyl, M., Steyn, M., & Orr, W. ( 2003). "This is where I want to belong": Institutional culture at Wits, staff perceptions and experiences in 2002 (Report). Cape Town: University of Cape Town/Institute for Intercultural and Diversity Studies in Southern Africa.
59.
Wits. (1999). University of the Witwatersrand’s Policy on Internationalisation. Johannesburg, South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand
60.
Wits. (2005). Internationalisation Policy: 2005University of the Witwatersrand , Johannesburg
61.
Wits, Division of Partnerships and Advancement. (2005, February 3). Business plan: The Wits Study Abroad Programme (v3). Johannesburg, South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand .
