Internationalisation at Home activities in different academic disciplines

This study aims to establish how Internationalisation at Home (IaH) is implemented in different disciplinary categories based on the concept of academic tribes, if certain IaH activities are prioritised over others, and what rationales are applied in the choices of IaH activities in different disciplines. A range of degree programmes at THUAS, representing the different disciplinary categories, have been selected for this study to explore patters (if any) in their choices of IaH activities

Approaches to internationalisation of the curriculum are in part dependent on the academic discipline and the disciplinary culture in which they take place (Leask & Bridge 2013). Different studies have explored disciplinary approaches to internationalisation; many of these (Clifford 2009, Agnew 2012, Clifford 2012, Green & Whitsed 2012, Leask 2013, Leask & Bridge 2013, Leask & De Wit 2015) have focused on the process, understanding and approaches of the disciplines to internationalisation of the curriculum.

Using the Becher-Biglan typology of academic tribes, we are curious to see whether the different disciplinary approaches to internationalisation of the curriculum can also be found in the choices of internationalisation at home activities in different disciplinary fields. In this respect, Agnew (2012) claims that “the ways in which faculty members think about internationalisation may influence how faculty members engage in the process of internationalisation and, specifically, how to internationalise their curricular content” (p. 184). If this is true, we should be able to observe such differences in the types of internationalisation at home interventions different disciplines plan in curricula, which is the issue that this study seeks to explore within The Hague University of Applied sciences.

Using our own tool to map internationalisation at home called THIAH (The Hague Internationalisation at Home mapping instrument), we will interview 12 degree programmes as representatives of the four academic tribes. The study will result in a journal article and a visual tool plotting IaH interventions within the academic tribes.

Contact

Claudia Bulnes and Eveke de Louw