Higher education, internationalisation, and the nation-state.
German Policy Studies › Vol. 2 Nbr. 3, July 2002
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Higher education, internationalisation, and the nation-state.
Abstract
'Internationalisation' became a key theme in the 1990s, both in higher education policy debates and in research on higher education. The process is accompanied by a European policy that seems to favour a de-nationalisation of higher education, a growing responsibility of individual institutions of higher education and an increasing popularity of managerialism. This paper addresses the traditional controversial role of higher education as regards internationalisation and the nation-state, comparing the mainland European and the Anglo-Saxon approach. Assessing the different impacts of internationalisation as a challenge to European and German higher education, it analyses the role of the European Union and the Bologna process, as well as the icebreaker function of internationalisation for higher education reform in Germany. A closer look at the complex and dynamic multi-level set-up of internationalisation in European higher education reveals that it not only means varying border-crossing activities that are on the rise, but rather substantial changes towards systematic policies and a growing awareness of international cooperation and competition in an increasingly global higher education market. Introduction Three major developments occurred in the higher education systems in Europe during the last two decades: - Higher education institutions, but more specifically higher education systems at their institutional level, became more important actors. We can observe many initiatives and debates on institutional management in higher education, institutional evaluation, funding of universities and other related tools for institutional adaptation to changing environments. - Secondly, we note a variety of changes, which can be termed 'internationalisation' of higher education. Two different types of phenomena are frequently referred to in this context: on the one hand, a growth of specific visible international, border-crossing cooperation and operations, such as student and staff mobility, foreign language teaching or cooperative research activities; and, on the other, a trend towards internationalisation, regionalisation or globalisation of the substance and structures of higher education, e.g., convergence of systems in terms of institutional patterns, study programmes or curricula. - Last but not least, both developments--the emphasis on the institutional level, as well as on the intern...See the full content of this document
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