Abstract
This special issue of Research in Comparative and International Education, which we have titled “Promoting Global and Intercultural Competencies through Internationalization,” is intended to encourage dialogue between and among scholars from multiple disciplines, international education professionals, and academic program accreditors regarding how best to instill and assess global, international, and intercultural (GII) competencies. The articles included here build upon a conversation started as part of a small invitation-only conference funded by the Spencer Foundation which was held at the SUNY Global Center in April 2018 to examine how institutions consider the quality of internationalization efforts in the promotion of GII competency development.
Because quality assurance and accreditation have shifted from their historical focus on input measures to place increasing emphasis on measuring learning outcomes, educational quality is no longer simply measured or limited to reductive output measures (e.g. graduation rates). Instead, accountability for educational quality is increasingly based on measuring whether students have the knowledge and skills promised to them by their educational institutions and programs, as well as measures of whether the education is contributing to broader societal goals (Billing, 2004; Martin and Stella, 2007). While great strides have been made in the assessment of learning outcomes as it relates to some aspects of the higher education experience, there are other areas where the practice and the scholarship is less advanced. Internationalization falls into the latter category particularly as it relates to the development of GII competencies (Soria and Troisi, 2014). Among specialized accreditors of professional degrees, assessing cultural competencies remains among the most challenging tasks, and programs continue to struggle to define, measure, and assess intercultural competencies (Rubaii and Calarusse, 2014).
In an effort to prepare students with the global mindset and cultural competencies necessary for effectiveness as professionals and citizens in an increasingly globally interdependent world, universities are placing greater emphasis on providing students with international experiences as part of their education (ACE, 2011). The gold standard of international experiences for students is presumed to be study abroad (Ballestras and Roller, 2013; Deardorff, 2006). Conversely, there is growing recognition that direct-enrollment semester- or year-long study abroad programs are not financially or otherwise feasible for the majority of students (Parkinson, 2007). As such, universities are placing an increasing emphasis on short-term faculty-led programs, many of which involve international service learning (ISL). These short-term ISL programs have the potential to be accessible to a larger number and, notably, a more diverse group of students, thereby expanding the scope of university internationalization in important ways (Crabtree, 2008; Moore McBride et al., 2012). A small number of discipline-focused studies have asserted the effectiveness of ISL programs in enhancing cultural competencies. This body of literature includes examples drawn from the fields of business (Metcalf, 2010), engineering (Borg and Zitomer, 2008), medicine (Pechak and Thompson, 2009), nursing (Green et al., 2011), public affairs (Appe et al., 2016), and social work (Gammonley et al., 2007). However, these studies do not provide measures which can be applied more broadly nor do they assess the effectiveness of ISL programs relative to other forms of internationalization. Additionally, there is little evidence this research is being used in the design and evaluation of ISL programs or as part of a broader assessment of the quality of internationalization efforts within higher education institutions. While short-term ISL programs are growing in number and serve to address the issues of accessibility for some students, even these programs are outside the realm of possibility for a sizeable proportion of students (Martinez et al., 2009; Picard et al., 2009). For this reason, universities must also develop and implement a range of internationalization at home (IaH) strategies (Knight, 2004; Otten, 2003; Soria and Troisi, 2014). IaH approaches vary widely and may be directed at faculty, students, course content and/or pedagogy (Sciame-Giesecke et al., 2009).
The current status of GII competency development research is based largely on studies limited to individual disciplines and examining the effectiveness of single internationalization approaches in isolation. There is limited evidence of comparison of effectiveness across internationalization methods, across institutions, or across disciplines. There is even less evidence that the scholarship on the effectiveness of internationalization in promoting GII competencies is informing quality assurance standards and processes for programs or institutions. In an environment in which GII competencies are expected to play an increasingly important role in student success upon graduation, measuring the quality of internationalization efforts deserves greater attention from scholars and quality assurance professionals.
This special issue presents conceptual articles developed to facilitate dialog regarding the quality of internationalization efforts in the promotion of GII competency development. Emphasis on conceptual submissions for the issue indicates the important role these types of articles have in the advancement of knowledge. The articles within the issue are arranged from micro to macro conceptualizations of current internationalization efforts, that is broadly from student level to program then to institutional and societal levels. Additionally, the articles vary in scope and structure reflective of the diverse disciplinary and worldviews of the contributors.
The special issue opens with an article discussing the role of language education as a core tenet of the internationalization process. Paula Garrett and Tim Jansa argue for a more intentional inclusion of second language learning as a way to facilitate GII competency development. This is followed by an article by Lily Arasaratnam-Smith in which she introduces a new framework for global graduates to use in developing intercultural communication competence. Additionally, she discusses curriculum development and institutional investment considerations in relation to the proposed global graduate framework. The article by David Killick presents a more inclusive and systematic approach to GII development by identifying curricula strategies. In particular, Killick proposes a curricular model to meet the needs of diverse students and societies. Similarly, the article by Katharine Krebs provides an overview of innovative pedagogies which embed GII learning and concludes with suggestions to strengthen GII classroom learning. The next two articles present a critique of higher education’s intentions and terminology associated with internationalization processes. First, Alvino Fantini suggests a reframing of the language used to describe the abilities needed by globalized citizens and proposes the language of intercultural communicative competency. This is a concept which some of the other authors reference, but Fantini discusses it and justifies its use in greater detail. Finally, Susan Appe outlines several of the challenges associated with higher education’s internationalization strategies including considerations of academic capitalism. 1
The changes proposed by the authors are not quick fixes and may not be fully implemented within their professional careers; in many cases, they are presenting ideas that will require further study and deeper analysis by a new generation of scholars who may be better equipped to engage in interdisciplinary thought and collaboration. As such, we chose to invite two young scholars in an interdisciplinary doctoral program to both participate in the conference that generated these articles, and to read and reflect on the articles. The issue, thus, concludes with a reflection by two doctoral students who will be part of the next generation of scholars. Kerry Stamp and Md. Shahriar Islam use this space to provide their interpretation of the articles in this issue and to propose ideas for potential empirical studies and other conceptual articles to inform higher education’s response to internationalization.
Collectively, these articles help to identify the potential impact of language, curricula approaches, and international opportunities on the global, international, and intercultural competency development of students. The structure of the articles provides conceptual frameworks and thought considerations useful in informing the quality assurance standards and assessment processes used by universities and accreditation bodies as they relate to internationalization and promoting intercultural competencies. Though the issue is not exhaustive, it does provide a starting point for continued learning to improve higher education institution’s internationalization strategies and efforts.