EAIE Barometer data used in European Parliament report
The most comprehensive European Parliament report on Internationalisation of Higher Education, authored by four prominent figures in the field – Hans de Wit and Fiona Hunter of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Eva Egron-Polak of the International Association of Universities; and Laura Howard, President of the EAIE – was released earlier this month. Its release and the many interesting findings it reveals have been covered in the press extensively this past week.
The goal of this inquiry, led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore’s Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, was to take an in-depth look at internationalisation strategies in higher education at an institutional, national, European, and global level. The study looked at seventeen countries, ten of which in the EU – namely, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and the UK – and seven of which non-EU – Australia, Canada, Colombia, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa and the USA. Aside from describing strategies and their implementation, the study has a distinct focus on policy recommendations that aim at creating positive societal impact as a result of internationalisation.
The EAIE’s participation in the study came about as a result of our own probe into the status of internationalisation in higher education in Europe. The EAIE Barometer Report focuses on the internationalisation policies and practices in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by looking at the practitioner experience ‘on the ground’ – both in terms of new developments and in terms of how skills and knowledge match up to requirements for internationalisation.
EAIE President Laura Howard, one of the authors of the EP study, states that “[…] the fact that the European Parliament requested such a study shows that the time was ripe for an in-depth analysis of the situation covering a broad range of diverse factors. The internationalisation of higher education in Europe does not happen in isolation – it’s part of a much bigger picture, and this study recognises that by including a series of non-European countries, by looking at technology, by including the relevant results of the IAU survey and the EAIE Barometer, and by asking experts their opinion about what the future holds”.
Main findings
The study’s main findings, you’ll be happy to hear, are helping to quantify some of the hunches that those of us working in international higher education have often felt to be true.
• Internationalisation appears to be on the rise in all corners of the world, but a focus on quality should be the next step that allows for the field to truly flourish.
• A serious focus on internationalisation of the curriculum at home has the potential to have a much greater societal impact than mobility alone, as its efforts are concentrated on the vast majority of non-mobile students.
• Finally, digital and transnational learning are some of the key innovative directions that the field is taking in order to continue to grow and promote inclusion.
Want to learn more?
The above is just a snippet of the report’s many interesting findings and important recommendations. You can download the full report from the European Parliament website. Make sure to join us at session 12.01 The future of internationalisation of higher education in Europe in Glasgow in September to hear more about the study. Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be discussing the findings of the report and its implications in greater detail here on the EAIE blog too!
