Experiences and perceptions of internationalisation in higher education in the UK

Abstract

This article is based on a focus group study of staff and students in UK higher education institutions, where ‘internationalisation’ was the topic for debate. The perspectives of academics and students at five UK universities were examined to determine how they perceived their own culturally mediated approaches to learning. Evidence for internationalisation at home was sought including, in particular, views of student interaction and working in cross-cultural groups. Many staff and students demonstrated mindfulness of how local pedagogical approaches were privileged. Most described problems of lack of intercultural interaction and difficulties with particular classroom pedagogy such as group work. Participants described their difficulties but also gave anecdotal evidence of feeling personally rewarded in terms of building new friendships and developing their intercultural competencies.

Keywords:

• intercultural competencies
• internationalisation
• internationalisation at home
• student interaction

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions to the original research of Dr Julie Anderson, and Anne Anderson of ESCalate (Subject Centre for Education) and Alison Dickens of LLAS (Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics & Area Studies), the report of which can be found at http://escalate.ac.uk/5248. The project upon which this article was based was funded by the Higher Education Academy.