2021 Spring Forum call for submissions: Europe and the Global South

The various crises that 2020 brought have in some ways caused us to turn inward. Despite the global nature of our many shared challenges, life is currently largely playing out within the confines of our homes, and the work we do each day is mostly focused on meeting the most immediate challenges of the public health developments in our respective countries and the complexities of student mobility affecting our own institutions. But what's happening in the wider world of international education, beyond the walls of our home offices and the boundaries of our institutions and the countries in which they reside?

If the goal of internationalisation is to mint a generation of young people with the cognitive skills and personal perspectives to tackle shared global challenges like viral outbreaks and a rapidly changing climate, then part of that work means engaging critically with higher education beyond Europe and the world's wealthiest and most developed countries. How has international higher education in the so-called ‘Global South’ weathered the many storms of recent years – among them rising nationalism, migrant crises, climate emergencies, and not only the current pandemic but for example the Ebola outbreak in West Africa or the Zika virus in the Caribbean and South America? Taken together, how have these many dynamics recalibrated the relationship between Europe and the Global South in terms of international education? These are the questions that the upcoming 2021 Spring edition of Forum will seek to answer with the help of practitioners and experts like you.

Contested terminology

To meaningfully consider the relationship between Europe and the ‘Global South’, an important initial question is how we understand the North-South dichotomy. ‘Global South’ is certainly a contested term, which cannot accurately reflect the rich diversity of national realities across major world regions, yet one that is used widely to refer to countries facing multiple development challenges.

How has our understanding of what has variously been dubbed the ‘third world’, ‘developing countries’ or more recently the ‘Global South’ evolved over time, and how has that shaped cooperation between Europe and such countries? Can well-funded universities in Buenos Aires, Beirut or Bangkok be lumped in with under-resourced institutions in Bolivia or Burundi? In what ways do higher education institutions in rural or resource-poor regions of Europe or North America face challenges typical of what we would describe as the ‘Global South’, and how does this affect their approach to (international) education? Submissions engaging critically with this terminology will be well-suited to this edition of Forum.

From capacity building to decolonisation

Historically, the flow of resources and expertise between countries has been characterised as more or less one-way traffic: European higher education institutions leveraging their strengths and resources to empower their counterparts in the developing world to contribute to cutting-edge research, improve the quality of teaching and better serve their communities. However, this framing is fraught with built-in assumptions about what we value as ‘knowledge’ or ‘resources’ and who has it. Indeed, these same implicit value judgments exacerbate the related phenomenon of brain drain: the promise of a better education and better career prospects notoriously draws bright minds away from countries that need their talent and skills. In what ways is this traditional model of North-South cooperation evolving?

On the 'Northern’ side, recent years have witnessed a growing push to divest curricula of their Euro-centric worldviews in favour of a more inclusive approach to how we value knowledge and different ways of knowing. What does the phenomenon of decolonisation of the curriculum mean for Europe–Global South relations in higher education? Articles outlining a concrete roadmap to decolonising the curriculum in practice and the results or implications thereof will be highly relevant to this edition.

Contrasting approaches

This issue of Forum will seek to showcase a diverse array of perspectives on these dynamics. Submissions on Internationalisation at Home in Ethiopian universities, Spanish–South American collaborative programmes, or the application of Western conceptions of inclusion and diversity to universities in the Arab world, for example, would all be welcome additions to the conversation.

How has the rise of digital technology affected the evaluation of credentials from Sub-Saharan Africa? What does guidance and counselling look like for a Malaysian student studying in the UK, or a Dutch student studying in South Africa? How has COVID-19 impacted the work of mobility advising for students going to or coming from Brazil? Such case studies and narrow, zoomed-in perspectives from a variety of disciplines will greatly enrich this issue of Forum.

Share your expertise

What are your thoughts on the evolving relationship between Europe and the various actors that make up the ‘Global South’? EAIE members and non-members alike can submit their 800–1200 word article to publications@eaie.org by 15 January. For more information on the issue theme, examples of article topics and guidelines for writing, see our page on Writing for the EAIE.