Internationalization of higher education: is it an evolving concept?
International Journal of Development Research
Internationalization of higher education: is it an evolving concept?
Received 15th October, 2021; Received in revised form 17th November, 2021; Accepted 18th December, 2021; Published online 28th January, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Anjali Dave. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
No longer is internationalization an outlier in the higher education environment rather it is an emerging aspect as evidenced by university strategic plans, policy pronouncements, international declarations, and scholarly studies. Not only has internationalization impacted higher education, but it has also changed itself tremendously. However, it is debatable whether internationalization has seeped into higher education completely or is it just an evolving concept. This paper scrutinizes the international dimension of higher education and the mobility practices around the globe. It discusses the origin of internationalization and examines several recent changes and their repercussions during the last two decades. There are a few critiques of internationalization, nevertheless, the drift towards internationalization is dominant due to the current pandemic situation and is proving to be the probable future of higher education. It also probes a few trends in tertiary education and lastly, summarizing the key process of internationalization over the last thirty years.
