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50ª Asamblea Anual de CLADEA
Asia Pacífico: Principal Foco de Negocios del siglo XXI,
Una Mirada para la Educación de la Economía Global
6-8 de septiembre, Viña del Mar, Chile
Track 1: La Internacionalización de las Escuelas de Negocios,
Acreditación y Calidad Educacional
STRATEGIES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (HEI): LESSONS LEARNT
FROM AUSTRALIAN AND CHILEAN CASES
Abstract
This communication presents an analysis on the internationalization strategies employed by
the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in two selected universities located in two distinct
OECD countries. The study is based on literature review, establishment of categories as
points of reference and comparison. We look at and compare internationalization strategy
focused on international student mobility and Internationalization at Home (IaH) actions
focused on the development of intercultural competences in students as learning outcomes
and strategy goals. Finally, in addition to an ex-post analysis of the ongoing implementation
of the internationalization strategy at the Universidad de La Frontera, we draw conclusions
and lessons learnt for the internationalization of Business Education within a HEI of an
emerging economy.
Key words
Internationalization at Home, Intercultural Competences, Interaction, Chile, Australia
2
Introduction
The wider economic, social and cultural globalization theories emphasize that the current
setting for education, teaching and learning is globalized. “As national economies become
more interconnected and participation in education expands, governments and individuals are
looking to tertiary education to broaden students’ horizons and help them to better understand
the world’s languages, cultures and business methods” (OECD 2014).
OECD further details that “… in 2012, more than 4.5 million students were enrolled in
tertiary education outside their country of citizenship. Australia, Austria, Luxembourg, New
Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have the highest proportion of international
students as a percentage of their total tertiary enrolments” (ibid, p. 342). However,
international student mobility (intra-regional or other) does not give an accurate account of
the internationalization efforts made by the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of the Asia-
Pacific countries. The full picture is to be drawn up through the analysis of broader
internationalization strategies.
Internationalization and globalization are fundamental components of the learning process
where living and reflecting upon the experiences a student has when studying abroad greatly
enhances the learning experience (Perry & Southwell 2011). However, due to the
international financial crises and especially as far as emerging economies are concerned, it is
the Internationalization at Home (IaH) measures which might be the answer, at least for now,
in preparing the graduates for the global economy through the development of intercultural
competences of the students (for IaH see Beelen 2011, Jon 2013, Soria & Troisi 2013,
Harrison 2015).
In this respect and as far as the present and future of Business Education is concerned, we
must ask ourselves whether the undergraduate Business Programs, MBAs and executive
training programs in emerging economies are ready to face the challenges of globalization.
The analytical article which examined US and UK cases (by Boyde in Financial Times 2013)
raised the issues of relevance and pertinence of costly US and UK degree programs, but most
importantly it asked what we can do for our students to be relevant in nowadays society
where non-traditional roles are on the increase, including in the very traditional sectors such
as business.
We are in the situation where we need to look closer at the intercultural competences and
their role in the internationalization processes we find ourselves increasingly concerned with
in contemporary education. In turn, this requires us to realize and recognize the importance of
learning, which takes place inside and outside the classroom but which does not require
course inscription or enrolment of any sort. We refer to life-long learning through social
interaction (Jarvis, 2007, 2009, 2012) and the acquisition of intercultural competences has a
lot to do with this phenomenon in the contexts of a globalized classroom. Summarizing
numerous literature on international competences, Perry & Southwell (2011) defined
intercultural competence as the “… ability to effectively and appropriately interact in an
intercultural situation or context” (see J.M. Bennett 2008; Deardorff 2006a; Lustig and
Koester 2006 in Perry & Southwell 2011; our emphasis).
Life-long learning is a never-ending process of both individual and social nature and is based
on interaction/s (Jarvis, 2007, 2009, 2012). The latter are a key element in the acquisition or
development of the intercultural competences (ibid). Further, it is not only the means of
3
acquiring the competence that these frameworks for understanding learning have in common.
What mutually feed the two modern theories is the recognition they give to the social nature
of the learning process. Diverse classrooms when taught with intercultural approach ensure
that learning outcomes are in line with the interaction outcomes (Webb 2011, 2013), meaning
life-long learning consequences.
Specifically, internationalization is essential in teaching business and related disciplines, just
as interdisciplinary approach is. This communication focuses on internationalization;
however, it must not be taken for granted as more factors influence the quality of education in
Business Schools, and interdisciplinary approach is one of them. Further research on the role
of intercultural competences in the internationalization efforts of the universities functioning
in emerging economies is pending. As recently as in 2012, Hans de Wit, director of the
Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at Italy’s Catholic University of the Sacred
Heart, has commented that
“Too often universities measure whether they are succeeding at internationalization by
outputs —what percentage of the student body are from outside the country, how
many students study abroad, and for those in continental Europe, how many classes
are taught in English. Yet those measures don’t answer whether the graduates
universities are producing, are really prepared to live and work in international
settings” (Wilhelm 2012).
Findings of Jon (2013) and Gül et al (2010) report eco these conclusions.
Thus, we look to answer the question of how could a HEI in an emerging economy face the
challenges of the globalization through internationalization? In order to answer this question
we have established an overarching objective for the present communication; which is to
analyze the IaH based internationalization strategy applied by nations and HEIs in the context
of growing need to include intercultural competences as learning outcomes of curricular, co-
curricular and other ‘on campus’ or ‘HEI related’ activities.
This communication is structured as follows. We first analyze the literature in the area of
internationalization, internationalization at home and intercultural competence, in order to
theoretically framework and place our debate. We then proceed to explain the methodology
employed for the present study based on document and secondary sources analysis
complemented by participant observation in which the authors engaged as educators in the
two countries chosen as case study – Australia and Chile. Finally, the results are presented
and conclusions are drawn in the two last sections of this communication.
Literature review
Globalization weighs heavily in the post-modern society based on knowledge. The paradigms
of teaching, learning, education and its outcomes continue as relevant issues regardless of
which theory takes force in a given period of time, as shown by Illeris in the 2009 edited
volume by multiple contributors on “Contemporary Theories of Learning”. What can be
concluded from this literature and taken as a premise for the study described in this
communication is that essentially all learning is social (Jarvis, 2009) and the ways of
organizing it may differ in a given social, special and temporal context. In other words,
learning is based on interaction.
4
Further, there is an overall consensus of that it is important for the students to develop the
competencies which allow them to “… thrive in an increasingly global world” (Soria &
Troisi 2013). In this context, Peter Jarvis argues that the relevance and pertinence of
competences is essential in the nowadays “knowledge-based society” in which “doing
something well” or being an expert is not as valued as “the ability to perform” (2007, p. 93).
Recognizing that social interaction is basis for learning (Jarvis, 2009 and 2012), as the wider
social theories of education and learning convincingly demonstrate (see Illeris, Jarvis, Kegan
and others in Illeris, 2009). For example, it is clear that universities with 3 to 4
undergraduate, and 1 to 2 year graduate programs based on the Bologna-Sorbonne system
cannot deliver more than competences. Expertise comes with experience, which in turn
requires time and intensity in one’s life and living. Thus, competence based teaching is
catching up at the universities all over the world. There are also clear signs that competences
are an especially relevant result of the business education programs.
Where intercultural competence acquisition is described “… as an ongoing process that can
be achieved via different routes” and the roadmap, or strategy, for achieving that may be
adjusted “for specific situations or contexts”, as Perry and Southwell illustrate through
Deardorff’s (2006, 2011) model comparison and analysis of Landis and Bhawuk’s (2004)
model of the intercultural behavior process. Clearly, life-long learning provides better
understanding of the cognitive, behavioral and interaction processes involved in taking each
of these roads over an extended period of time, and the influence of the previous experience,
as for example growing up in an intercultural or multicultural environment.
In the last fifteen to twenty years there has been an increasing amount of literature on
internationalization of HEIs. Many researchers came to a conclusion that internationalization
is clearly a process rather than a result (see Ellingboe 1998, Knight 2004, Middlehurst 2007,
Ritchie 2007 and de Wit 2002 in Conraths & Trusso 2007), nor is it “an end in itself” which
replaces the “… broader aims of citizenship and individual development” (Shaw, 2014).
Thus, also the definition of the concept implies both setting a national standard and opening a
framework for action, and leaving space for interpretation by every HEI, rather than fixing an
exhaustive list of possible developments (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: HEI internationalization roadmap structure
Source: developed by the authors drawing upon the internationalization of HEIs literature
cited in this communication.
SA
•exchanges
•swaps
•double degrees with
obligatory abroad
period
IaH •on-campus activities
•curriculum related
other
•international student
NGOs
•social non-academic
interaction off campus
•hobby
5
All in all, there is an agreement within the mentioned literature that the framework of action
for internationalization must consider at least the following: (i) political process (long term
and multidimensional); (ii) administrative process (short to medium term); (iii) orientation
towards fostering autonomy of the academic units within the HEI; (iv) orientation towards
maintaining the integrity of the institutional development, in other words internationalization
should be an additional benefit not the main goal (like quality or social responsibility, for
example); (v) communication, coordination and clear definition of actions which are to be
taken (see Ellingboe 1998, Knight 2004, Middlehurst 2007, Ritchie 2007 and de Wit 2002 in
Conraths & Trusso 2007).
According to the International Association of Universities, a “strategy is the keyword in the
current effort of integrating internationalization into all missions of the institution and in
transitioning from internationally active institutions to institutions that have adopted
comprehensive internationalization as a major goal. Strategy implies a deliberate process of
planning and scheduling of long-term actions able to structure an Institutional policy and
determine activity choices. … As reported in the 4th IAU Global Survey 53% of the
responding HEIs worldwide indicated having an internationalization policy/strategy, 22%
reported that one is in preparation; 16% indicated that internationalization forms part of the
overall institutional strategy” (2015; our emphasis).
But why internationalization strategy based on IaH? Internationalization at Home as defined
by Soria & Troisi (2013), means students’ participation in activities related to
internationalization at home, namely participation in on-campus global/international activities
such as enrolment in global/international coursework, interactions with international students,
and participation in global/international co-curricular activities.
The worldwide research on intercultural competence, as claimed by Leung et al (2014) is
diversifying in terms of the models it proposes and considers. There is evidence that the non-
traditional society of the globalized world requires graduates who, according to Williams
(2009), exhibit: (i) increased understanding of international & cultural issues
1
; (ii) increased
flexibility
2
; (iii) increased open-mindedness and curiosity
3
; (iv) enhanced critical skills
4
. To
achieve that we need to look at the intercultural competence as both a life factor and an
education factor and we seek long lasting results in/through instilling competences which
allow our graduates to perform in the globalized economy, we must consider a variety of
measures, not only international student mobility (Study Abroad) programs. In addition,
economic constrains are something to be considered in the Chilean case where private HEIs
offer costly degrees and public HEIs receive much less State support than is needed to ensure
high quality of the service.
To construct the category of the ‘intercultural competences’ we looked at the previous
research, which has shown that most frequently found common elements within definitions of
1
Gain knowledge of the world’s peoples, economies, environments, and political and social systems, and their
interdependence; gain understanding of culture, its values and norms, and differences between cultures.
2
Develop flexibility and adaptability in new environments; develop comfort with people of diverse
backgrounds.
3
Learn from challenges to values and beliefs; develop respect for self and others; understand value of cultural
diversity; develop a sense of curiosity and discovery about others.
4
Develop skills such as resourcefulness, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, visualization,
socialization, negotiation, leadership, and teamwork in cultural diverse settings.
6
intercultural competences are the dimensions of knowledge (primarily of the world), attitudes
(cultural awareness), skills (mainly soft skills) and behaviors (acting on the basis of the
previous three dimensions) which amalgamate into the “ability to interact effectively and
appropriately with people from other cultures” (Deardorff 2004, p. 194 in Deardorff 2006,
p. 247-248; our emphasis; see also Hammer 1989, Byram 1997, Lustig and Koester 2006,
Hiller and Wozniak 2009, and Spitzberg & Changnon 2009, in Deardorff 2006 and Leung et
al 2014).
Further, the literature also talks of international competences, world-citizen, multicultural and
global competences (Deardorff, 2006; Morais & Ogden, 2010; Olson & Kroeger, 2001; Pope
& Mueller, 2005; Wilson, 1996), Cross-cultural effectiveness (Kealey, 1989), Intercultural
communication (Deardorff, 2006, 2009; Kim, 1993, 1994), Intercultural sensitivity (Bennett,
1986; Hammer et al., 2003), intercultural conflict management in business situations (Goh,
2012). However, we found the IC to be the most inclusive concept.
Williams (2009) proposed her Reflective Model of Intercultural Competence as a “new and
effective multifaceted tool for assessing study abroad outcomes”, which may also be used to
assess general internationalization or in particular IaH outcomes as it covers three dimensions
of IC:
Table 1: Dimensions of Intercultural Competency
Cognitive dimension Affective dimension Behavioral dimension
Knowledge about cultural
norms, values, behaviour,
and issues
Flexibility to adapt to new
situations
Open-mindedness to
encounter new values
Motivation or willingness to
act in intercultural situations
Critical skills such as
resourcefulness, problem-
solving skills, and culturally-
appropriate people skills
Other skills related to
intercultural situations
Source: Williams 2009, as derived from Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey & Wiseman 1991, Kim
1991, Grunzweig & Rinehart 1998, Deardorff 2004, 2006.
In addition the board definition of GIIs offered by Soria & Troisi (2013) includes the key
aspects of the intercultural competences mentioned here above. Firstly, it is the “…
knowledge about several dimensions of global and international cultures”; then, “…
appreciation of cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity”, “… understanding of the complexities
of issues in a global context” and “… comfort in working with people from other cultures”.
Thus, it may be concluded that it is possible to gain intercultural competence by the local
students while interacting with international students ‘at home’ (on campus) or while
studying abroad. The former approach offers a solution for those business schools who
operate in emerging economies where “… study abroad may not be an accessible or
affordable opportunity for all students” (Soria & Troisi 2013). Although Soria and Troisi
(2013) talk of “Global, international, and intercultural (GII) competencies”, their findings on
the “on-campus engagement in globally/internationally themed” versus study abroad
activities are extremely relevant “as colleges and universities seek to internationalize their
campuses” through the strategy known as “internationalization at home” (see Nilsson 1990,
2000, Osfield 2008, Otten 2000, and Paige 2003, in Soria and Troisi (2013)).
7
For the analysis of the cases at hand the Chilean literature on internationalization of HEIs
should also be taken in to account. Vazquez et al. (2014) describes the study carried out with
both local and international students at the Universidad de Los Lagos (ULAGOS). One of the
factors researched in this study were students’ perceptions of the influence of a ‘study
abroad’ experience on their intercultural competences. Geldres et al. (2014) offered an
overview of the international student mobility of the undergraduate students at Universidad
de La Frontera (UFRO) and concluded that students are generally increasingly interested in
international mobility activities as they seek to develop competences for our globalized
setting.
Methodology
Due to G20 countries attracting “82% of foreign students worldwide while some 75% of
foreign students are enrolled in tertiary education in an OECD country” (2014, p. 344). In the
era where intra-regional mobility takes prevalence other global mobility of students (OECD,
2014) we look at two Pacific Rim cases in order to meet the objectives of this research.
The research design is based on the benchmarking technique known to the business sector
and category development contingent document analysis known to the education sector. We
took an Australian case known to literature as published by Beata Webb (2011, 2013), and a
Chilean case known to literature as described by Geldres et al. (2014) and Vazquez et al.
(2014); and compared them to the ongoing study within the Faculty of Law and Business of
the Universidad de La Frontera (further on referred to as “FCJE-UFRO”). The criteria for the
selection of the case study countries and HEIs is described next.
Table 2: Differences and similarities in Internationalization of Australian and Chilean
HEIs
Australia Chile
Differences 1. Established government strategy for
“exportation of educational services”
2. Established academic and educational
tourism promotion strategy
3. Developed economy
4. English-speaking study abroad
destination
1. Recent national strategy of
internationalization
2. Recent development of the Tourism Sector
3. Emerging economy
4. Spanish-speaking study abroad destination
Similarities OECD members
Post-colonial (historic and socio-cultural context)
Intercultural (educational and socio-cultural context)
Relative geographic isolation and expensiveness of “getting there”
Security and stability (general socio-political context)
Study abroad students generally come from nearby countries
Internationalization strategy is based on IaH
Source: developed by the authors based on Geldres et al 2014 and Webb 2011, 2013.
Firstly, both of these countries are in the Southern Hemisphere; a factor that is important
when considering their attractiveness for possible international students due to having
academic years structure and organization differences as opposed to the Northern
Hemisphere countries. Secondly, both are Pacific Rim states, OECD but one developed and
8
another – emerging economy, and both with strong or growing links with Asia; a factor that
must be taken into account when OECD 2014 report on education says that “students from
Asia represent 53% of foreign students enrolled worldwide.” (p. 342). Thirdly, Australia has
English as a national language, while in Chile the public life is dominated by Spanish; HEIs
use the official languages respectively, and teach the other as a ‘foreign language’. Further,
these countries have very distinct educational systems – one recognized worldwide for its
quality and the other plagued by problems on a national, regional and local scale. Finally, and
most importantly, increasing international collaboration, mutual business interests, intensified
international trade and investment, fosters student exchange between these countries and has
further positive influence on educational and academic tourism. The comparison between
these countries’ internationalization strategies is useful because both prompted for the
market-oriented approach to the ‘international education’ in the past. But this is likely to
change as the Australian Government scrutinizes is deep in discussion over its “Draft
National Strategy for International Education”, and in Chile the entire education system is
undergoing a major reform.
The study was based on secondary sources of information with the exception of participant
observation carried out by the authors for a duration of 2 months during the 1
st
semester
(Southern Hemisphere) in 2015 in their respective HEIs. The participant observation at
UFRO was carried out during the extra-curricular events directed at the visiting (study
abroad) students and the occasion of their interaction with the regular (home / local students).
The evident limitation of this methodology is that the participant observation has not been
carried out simultaneously and that Australian and Chilean HEIs.
The article databases were searched with the following key words: ‘internationalization’,
‘intercultural competences’, ‘study aboard’ and ‘internationalization at home’,
‘internationalization of Australian higher education’, ‘internationalization of Chilean higher
education’, as well as their equivalents in ‘UK English’ where necessary.
In addition, the primary sources included (i) the programs of the core-curriculum subjects and
electives at the Faculty of Law and Business at UFRO, (ii) numerous websites of
organizations functioning on UFRO’s campuses, for example the Melton Foundation UFRO
chapter, student-led local AISEEC initiative, and analysis of the undergraduate student
mobility reports, Rector’s annual reports etc.
Results
The Australian Case
Even though it boasts higher tuition fees for international students than for domestic students
(OECD, 2013), Australia is a prime exporter of educational services or, as may be seen
otherwise, destination for study abroad or educational tourism. According to the OECD
(2014), end-of-2012 records show that “18% of all students in tertiary education in Australia
are international students” (p. 354). Such numbers are a clear indication of a long-standing
Australian experience in internationalization through inbound Study Abroad or “international
education” efforts (Australian Government 2015, p. 5).
However, there are HEIs in Australia where less than 99 % of students are not internationally
mobile and, in general, just under 1 % of Australian national tertiary students enroll abroad
9
(OECD, 2014; UNESCO-IUS, 2014). Both previous research (Webb, 2011 and 2013) and
past and present national and ‘per HEI’ (UQ, 2013) strategies suggest that
internationalization of education in Australia takes place through inbound student mobility
that is through ‘international education’ or, as may be seen otherwise, export of educational
services.
The former should be of great concern for the Australian authorities and a clear indicator that
a greater variety of internationalization strategies is needed to face the challenges of the
globalized society. The former is also a signal that emphasis should be placed elsewhere in
tackling the shortcomings of intercultural education, because the students develop
intercultural competences as a result of interaction with and within a cultural variety, and that
international travel is not necessary to encounter such variety.
The focus should lie not only with the international education as an “export service”, as the
Australian (2015) Draft National Strategy for International Education suggests, but should
also tackle the difficulties encountered by teachers and students within linguistically and
culturally diverse classrooms (Webb, 2011, p. 124), and draw from this experience to develop
internationalization, including IaH, strategies for each HEI and national level. The said Draft
National Strategy recognizes the importance in recognizing the autonomy of the territories in
setting their own priorities. This especially makes sense for IaH strategies where cultural
diversity of each territory could be harness to benefit the entire student body (not only the
internationally mobile students) in a ‘glocal’ context (Escobar, 2001).
The Chilean Case
Chile is recently gaining speed in establishing itself as an academic and educational
destination, though study abroad scholarships for Chileans have been around for quite some
time. The “Program for the Formation of Advanced Human Capital Program, PFCHA, was
established in 1988, and is the main government agency in charge of managing scholarships
for graduate studies” (CONICYT, 2015). Recently, a doctorate scholarships for graduates
previously not resident in Chile program was established to attract foreign advanced human
capital. The leading institutions in both sending and receiving students are the private
Pontificia Universidad Católica (PUC) of Santiago de Chile, the public Universidad de Chile
and the private PUC Valparaíso. However, there are a number of universities with less
intense internationalization programs in place. To support them there are numerous ongoing
national government agency or foreign entity prompted initiatives.
The fairly new ‘Learn Chile’ is a consortium of 23 Chilean HEIs working together to
promote Chile as a destination for international students. It has the support from the Chilean
Government through ProChile and its offices worldwide. As a result of CORFO
5
support the
brand has been registered and is participating in international educational fairs such as those
organized by the European Association for International Education (EAIE), China Education
Expo (CEE), Salao do Estudante Brasil and by the Association of International Educators
NAFSA in USA
6
. The website promotes all universities affiliated, makes studies about the
5
Chilean Economic Development Agency http://www.english.corfo.cl/#top .
6
Conferences such as NAFSA, promotes international education and “… is committed to supporting a broad
public dialogue about the value and importance of international education. Through professional development
programs, publications, and networks of professionals, NAFSA provides opportunities for knowledge creation,
knowledge sharing, and skill-building. NAFSA also plays a leadership role in increasing awareness of and
10
international education trends, organizes workshops and international seminars, and
participates in strategic educational networks to internationalize all Chilean HEIs.
Other program that supports study abroad for Chilean students is the German Academic
Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst DAAD) which is the world’s
largest funding organization for the international exchange of students and researchers.
Another source for scholarships that has a high presence in Chile is Banco Santander and the
Pacific Alliance (Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru).
Another initiative is one that is led by Universidad del Bio Bio, which is a consortium with
other 8 universities from the Council of Rectors of Universities of Chile (CRUCH). This
consortium with the support of France, is focused on a program for internationalizing
programs related to engineering and agricultural sciences. In addition, CRUCH at large,
promotes the strengthening and formation of networks with international universities and
organizations through its Office of International Relations
7
, giving support to the mobility of
students and faculty, as well as coordinating public policies for the internationalization of
Chilean HEIs affiliated with CRUCH.
On the other hand, the Chilean International Cooperation Agency (www.agci.cl) mostly
collaborates with countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, concentrating its efforts
on skill and knowledge transference, through the coordination of joint programs and projects.
The Scholarship program of the Chilean Government offers graduate scholarships to carry
out studies in accredited graduate programs at Chilean universities and fellowships to get
involved in specialized courses lasting from 4 to 6 weeks as part of the human resources
training for foreigners. The last report (year 2010)
8
of the scholarship program for foreigners,
which started in 1993, has granted 1,147 scholarships, averaging 64 per year.
The main partners of AGCI are at the regional level: OAS, MERCOSUR, CELAC,
UNASUR, SEGIB, SICA) and at multilateral level: World Bank, WTO, OECD. It also has
global and international agreements with MDGs PARIS21 and several institutions such as
universities, think tanks, NGOs, ministries and public services.
Since May 2015, the Chilean Government has submitted a new Law that affects HEIs: the
Educational Reform. This reform promotes the development of technical and professional
education as relevant to higher education. New governmental structures will supervise and
guarantee the quality and reputation of Chilean HEIs and make sure they do not gain
financial benefits from education. Two new regional universities will be created in the two
regions that currently do not have a state university in place, Aysén and O’Higgins. Another
important change is related to making advances to have, in the long term, an educational
system totally financed by the government. So far, there has been no information made public
on how this reform might affect internationalization of Chilean HEIs.
Comparison
Regardless of advancements in the efforts to internationalize Chilean HEIs undergraduate
internationalization programs are still weak, especially at the public state-owned regional
support for the internationalization of higher education among education leaders, public policy makers, and the
broader community.” (www.nafsa.org).
7
http://comisiones.consejoderectores.cl/relaciones_internacionales_presentacion.php
8
http://www.agci.gob.cl/index.php/becas/becas-para-extranjeros/109-estadisticas
11
universities outside the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile. For example, UFRO being
involved in a number of internationalization projects for both undergraduate and graduate
students, has experienced a constant growth in international student mobility numbers over
the last few years, as the Table 3 shows. However, the international students’ numbers are
still very low.
Table 3: International student mobility at UFRO
Graduate and Undergraduate student
mobility
2012 2013 2014 1st sem.,
2015
Nº of undergraduate UFRO students in
International Mobility programs 32 54 54 33
Nº of graduate UFRO students in International
Mobility programs* n/a n/a n/a 24
Nº of undergraduate international students at
UFRO 32 43 86 60
Nº of graduate international students at UFRO 1 7 12 24
*It does not include students not registered as regular students, e.g., doing a short-term internship.
This is a stark contrast to Bond University of Gold Coast, which demonstrates higher than
Australian or any other average numbers of “students born outside Australia” –
approximately 50 % (Webb, 2011).
However, both the private and the regional public university lack an integrated
internationalization strategy with numerous possibilities for development of the intercultural
competence in an organized and guided manner with a clear definition of desired outcomes
and follow up.
While UFRO’s ties with Latin American counterparts (Brazilian, Colombian HEIs) is
especially strong in the graduate teaching and research areas, the undergrads lack exposure
Anglo-Saxon or Asia-Pacific culture, as well as guided interaction with their Latin American
counterparts. Dispersed activities which could foster acquisition of intercultural capacity are
numerous at UFRO. For example workshops of Mapuzundun language, Melton Foundation
9
meetings conducted in English, and “English culture” days organized by the undergraduate
“Pedagogía en Inglés” students, and many others are offered on-campus to the ‘national
students’ who are of indigenous (first nations) or non-indigenous origin. For example, the
first undergraduate international students ‘International Fair’ organized by the Mobility
Office at UFRO was held in 2014. It will be held again in year 2015, and will include
9
Since 1981, UFRO is a partner University of the Melton Foundation. The Melton Foundation has the mission
of promoting “… global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across
boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges” (http://meltonfoundation.org/who-we-are/about-
us/mission-and-vision). The Foundation has five other partner Universities located in the USA, Germany, India,
China y Ghana and currently it has almost 500 Fellows who are the lifeblood of the network from different
fields of study: agriculture, engineering, art, economics, law, medicine, phycology, journalism, among others,
bringing into the Foundation a variety of skills and cultural diversity. Each year about 20 undergraduate students
are selected to become “Melton Fellows”, who, through the years learn the appropriate skills to become a global
citizen by means of participating at the Annual Global Citizenship Conference, Springboard Sessions, Project
teams, Idea incubator, Deep Dive and several other opportunities where they link in their own local, personal
and professional networks. Several students from the Faculty of Law and Business belong to the MF.
12
undergraduate and graduate international students. The XX Melton Symposium was held at
UFRO in 2011. This has moved to a Global Citizenship Conference that will take place in
China this year and were at least 3 students from the FCJE-UFRO will participate. In the year
2016 UFRO will host the Conference, where over 100 international visitors from the Melton
Foundation are expected to participate.
In the case of a related study at the Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia, the evidence for
the development of intercultural awareness was very limited. This pointed to the fact that
student participation in the international experience does not warranty the attainment of the
ultimate goal of the international education, the development of the intercultural competence.
These chapters stress the importance of the systematic focused tasks assisting students in
becoming intercultural beings (Webb 2011, 2013).
It seems that in both cases the university administrations fail to see that overall linguistically
or culturally diverse classrooms in both Australia and Chile are a result of their colonial
origins rather than education strategies. This must be born in mind whenever designing a
HEI-specific, regional/state (territorial) or national internationalization strategy.
The Future of Business Education at the FCJE-UFRO
Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) is a state regional public university accredited in all
areas, and counting 8.500 undergraduate and 800 graduate programs’ students. As many as
20 % of students declare themselves to be indigenous (Mapuche origin). In general,
intercultural interaction has deep traditions at UFRO and takes place through the educational
Rupu program
10
, cultural program based on theatre and music performances by art groups
from as far as China, Mongolia or Japan.
In this context we look at a young Faculty of Law and Business (established in 2013) of
UFRO which is a home for not so young (origins in 1969) undergraduate business degree and
which is looking to reinvent itself through promoting Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation,
including Social Innovation, and post-Development oriented subjects, courses and events
which emphasize the context of globalization in which we find ourselves living, teaching and
learning. These courses are also taught with an important component of internationalization;
namely, the generic competence of ‘Communication in English’ is embedded in all of these
courses, and the specific competences of understanding and acting in a global context as an
entrepreneur or a business manager (‘Leadership’ competence) are the expected outcomes of
these courses. The Business School of the UFRO’s Faculty of Law and Business is not only
changing the way it is doing things but also defining what it is looking to achieve.
However, the central administration of UFRO maintains two small offices staffed with two
persons each which account for undergraduate and graduate international student mobility,
cooperation in research, technology transfer, innovation and the like. This does not leave
them much space to advance in non-formal learning opportunities based on intercultural
interaction. Though both national and international undergraduate student numbers at UFRO
have grown constantly over the past few year, as the previous research shows, it is the guided
interaction which yield observable results (Jon, 2013).
10
http://www.ufro.cl/rupu/
13
Discussion and conclusions
The lessons to be learnt by the Chilean HEIs from the described Asia-Pacific experiences in
internationalization are as follows.
First, in case of emerging economies the way forward is building a basis of subjects, core and
elective, which include intercultural competences amongst learning outcomes. This is to be
achieved through renovation of the curriculum and teacher training, mainly.
Secondly, internationalization at home should be taken as seriously as encouraging students
to enroll in study abroad programs because learning occurs continuously within and outside
the classroom, and the HEIs should take an organized approach where events with
international students are organized and encourage student NGOs and other student-run
entities to open up to organization of and participation at “internationalization related
events”.
Thirdly, the Business Schools should place more emphasis on international trade and
interdisciplinary collaboration, such as introduction of international relations and other
political and other social sciences subjects enhances at least one of the dimensions of
intercultural competence – knowledge of one’s surrounding world.
Further, the life-long learning theory allows us to take into account and assess the
development of the intercultural competences overtime
11
, and see the complete set of
ingredients for success of a strategy based on means and measures of IaH, including post-
study abroad experience exchange between returnees and non-mobile local students.
In the world where both the young graduates and people without formal schooling are more
than ever required to deliver, to ‘make it work’, to ‘make it happen’ on multiple tasks and in
multiple contexts, including varied cultural contexts, the intercultural competences become
increasingly important. It is due to the fact that the graduates are no longer required to be
skilled in something or be ‘an expert’ in something (this comes with years of experience, as
the words of common root indicate); they are required to gain and then employ the
competences to deliver results. Thus, soft skills should be the outcomes of curricular, co-
curricular and extra-curricular activities where students learn by interacting.
Finally, it is not about merely ‘improving’ IaH in Australia (Shaw 2014) or Chile (Vazquez et
al 2014, Geldres et al 2014) that should concern us. The former consideration also points to
the gaps in literature on internationalization as regards the effects of IaH and the future
employability of the graduates of the Business Schools and HEIs of emerging economies.
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