The internationalisation agenda: a critical examination of internationalisation strategies in public universities in Ghana

Abstract

Recently, various strategies have been adopted and adapted by universities in Ghana to re/position themselves in the international arena. Utilising postcolonial and neoliberal theories, this paper critically examines the internationalisation strategies of three public universities in Ghana. Although all the universities have adopted strategies to position themselves internationally, the rates at which these strategies have been introduced differ from one university to the other. Various factors including location, size, age and infrastructural strength influence the rate of involvement. It is argued that the strategies adopted by the universities appear to be embedded in postcolonialism and economic rationales based mainly on neoliberal economic thinking, which sees higher education as a quasi market place where knowledge is bought and sold. The paper argues that universities need to adopt strategies that are proactive and that promote alternative notions of internationalisation in ways that challenge the status quo.

Keywords:

• neoliberalism
• postcolonialism
• marketisation
• benchmarking
• internationalisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The study is based on my Phd theses which critically examined internationalisation in the public universities in Ghana.

2. Though I do not have statistics on international students in this University, the percentage could be lower than the University of Ghana.

3. Development is a problematic concept which permeates the neoliberal discourse.

4. The use of the term ‘Visitation’ is an interesting one. It is a biblical theme connoting the powerful presence of God with human beings. In the Bible, there were many instances where there was a visitation from God to men, for example, when Mary, the would-be mother of Jesus, was visited by an Angel. There were other visitations involving Abraham, Moses and Gideon. In all these visits, there were important messages to be delivered by which those visited upon had to abide. The messages delivered were seen as absolutes and essential. Thus, the Visitation team could be seen in terms of a powerful presence where the local academics and administrators have to abide by their reports and recommendations.

5. He was actually being described as a capitalist by a columnist in the Daily Graphic, Ghana’s leading newspaper in September, 2013.

6. This is not to say that ‘development is not a problematic concept’. There will be a subsequent paper to address this issue.