Ethical internationalisation in higher education: interfaces with international development and sustainability

Abstract

This analysis is situated within a larger project focusing on ethics and internationalisation in higher education. Internationalisation is occurring at a fast pace and encompasses overlapping and contradictory aims largely framed by market imperatives. At the same time, institutions of higher education increasingly promote sustainability. We use a framework informed by decolonial theories to map different orientations of internationalism at the interface of sustainability and international development in the context of neoliberalism. To examine these interfaces we offer a social cartography that locates intersections of neoliberal, liberal, and critical discourses within an internally contested but enduring modern/colonial imaginary. We demonstrate the generative potential of the social cartography by drawing on examples from strategy documents relating to internationalisation from universities in Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• education for sustainability
• development education
• internationalisation in education
• postcolonial theory in education

Acknowledgements

This research has been conducted as part of The Ethical Internationalisation in Higher Education project (2013–2015). The authors would like to acknowledge Sharon Stein for invaluable feedback and support with revisions and editing, Nadja Widel for her help with an earlier version of this paper, and Johan Öhman and Louise Sund for their input. We would also like to thank Johan Öhman for organizing the special issue and the co-contributors for the excellent discussion. We are indebted to the blind reviewers for their thoughtful constructive feedback. Finally, we would like to dedicate this paper in memory of our cherished colleague Michelle Nicolson.

Funding

This work was upoprted by the Academy of Finland and the University of Oulu.

Notes

1. The conference was co-organized by UN University; Ministries of the Environment, of Education, of Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan; and Nagoya University in collaboration with various UN organizations including UNESCO, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UN Environment Programme, UN Global Compact Principles for Responsible Management Education initiative and the International Association of Universities. See http://unu.edu/events/archive/conference/higher-education-for-sustainable-development-beyond-2014.html

2. For a complete list of signatories see http://www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires_signatories.html

3. Funded by the Academy of Finland, and led by principal investigator Dr. Vanessa Andreotti, the project involves over 20 universities across 5 continents and involves a four-phased mixed-methods comparative analysis: analysis of strategic documents, surveys with 200 under graduate students (100 in education and 100 in another discipline), surveys with 20 faculty members (10 from education and 10 from the other discipline), and interviews with administrators directly involved in international activities.

4. Paulston and Liebman (1994) indicate, the idea of social cartography is similar to both cognitive mapping and geographic cartography.

5. These included wider strategy documents and annual reports (Canada: University of British Columbia, University of Regina, and Western University; Finland: University of Helsinki; New Zealand: Massey University; UK: De Montfort University; University of Exeter) as well as specific documents pertaining to internationalisation (Canada: Simon Fraser University, University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, Western University; Ireland: National University of Ireland at Galway; Sweden: Södertörn University). As there are more Canadian universities participating in the larger project than in other countries, there are also more Canadian university documents included in the examples provided in this paper. The intention of this analysis is not to consider a national comparison of discourses (which would be a very interesting study) but rather to examine discourses across these documents and contexts.

6. It would be outside the scope of this paper to consider another layer of analysis; however, future research will consider discourses of internationalisation evident in documents from the universities in both the Global North and the Global South (Pashby and Shultz 2016).