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ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, internationalisation of higher education in South Africa has been framed and conceptualised based on the dominant approaches, concepts and definitions from the global North. Using a decolonial lens, we focus on how internationalisation is defined in South Africa. This is important as definitions influence strategic directions, policies and priorities of higher education systems and institutions. We show that replication of Eurocentric definitions is inappropriate for post-apartheid complexities and transformational priorities and contributes to the maintenance of coloniality and Eurocentric hegemony in higher education. We propose a new definition, which is relevant for the South African context and takes into consideration historical complexities and injustices, contemporary socio-economic realities, and the need for epistemic decolonisation. We hope that the new definition will have a progressive impact on different aspects of internationalisation and contribute to transformation and decolonisation of higher education in South Africa and, potentially, elsewhere.
Acknowledgements
Our working definition of internationalisation of higher education was presented at the 23rd annual International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) conference in 2021. The comments and feedback from this engagement were used to revise the definition. Additional valuable feedback was received from two anonymous peer-reviewers, whose comments assisted us in further revising and improving the definition. We thank everyone who has contributed with their valuable input, feedback and comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.