Curriculum internationalisation in an African context by Orla Quinlan

On 31 August, the International Education Association of South Africa – IEASA – launched its first special interest group, which will become a feature of its annual conferences and one of the main features of the association’s strategies for achieving its objectives.This was a culmination of many years of collaboration between IEASA members and the chairs of similar special interest groups from the European Association of International Education and the International Education Association of Australia.Joint collaborative activities over the years included workshops, seminars, training and joint conference presentations on aspects of internationalisation at home and internationalisation of the curriculum.It was decided to launch IEASA’s first special interest group on internationalisation of the curriculum at its 16th annual conference, which was hosted by the University of Cape Town. (See video showing conference highlights here.) The special interest group is part of IEASA’s strategy to insert itself into international trends and debates on the internationalisation of the curriculum; bring on board more academics and curriculum developers to begin to engage with the whole concept of internationalisation and how this might be affecting teaching and learning; and form a community of practice to engage in regular dialogues about this important concept in which academics have a primary role to play. African universities are embracing internationalisationMany higher education institutions in Africa have embraced the concept of internationalisation and, although it is interpreted in various ways, institutions are putting in place various strategies and policies to facilitate the internationalisation of their institutions in those aspects that are prioritised by them, whether it be student and staff mobility, research, joint degrees, partnerships or other issues.We are seeing greater recognition and acceptance of the need to educate and produce graduates who are adequately prepared to function in a highly globalised world. We hear a lot about the development of graduate skills and this sometimes appears in mission statements.What is unclear in the discourse is what it will take to produce this ‘ideal’ graduate. How can these attributes be assessed and when? A good place to start is the curriculum.Internationalisation of the curriculum, as defined by Associate Professor Betty Leask from the University of South Australia, is the “incorporation of an international and intercultural dimension into the content of the curriculum as well as the teaching and learning process and support services of a programme”. In her extensive research (see here), Leask explores how internationalisation of the curriculum can mean different things in different contexts and disciplines.What do we mean by international or intercultural dimensions in the African context? How is it different from interpretations elsewhere? How is the curriculum informed by research that crosses national and cultural boundaries? How is e-learning affecting teaching and learning? South Africa hosts more than 60,000 international students and several hundred international academic and staff members in its higher education system. How this affects teaching and learning is another question we should be asking.Although a large number of international students at an institution does not define how internationalised an institution is, it does help to raise awareness that teaching and learning cannot be ‘business as usual’.At the University of Cape Town, for example, courses exist that have a specific content focus that is applicable to Sub-Saharan Africa where the majority of the international students come from – with the knowledge and skills they acquire being highly relevant and immediately usable on return to their home countries.At the same time, many of these courses draw vast numbers of non-African semester study-abroad international students, eager to learn about the socio-political history of South Africa and the development economics of the region.This example illustrates an ‘internationalisation at home’ that prioritises all students – an approach that underscores the fact that internationalisation of the curriculum is not about manipulating or adapting the curriculum to suit international students but about putting together and delivering a curriculum that equips all students, not just those who are mobile, for their predictable and unpredictable futures.The common denominator of internationalisation is therefore the curriculum.It is what transforms the mind and learners as they develop the skills to understand the global, cultural and other forces that shape their disciplines. They learn to challenge generally accepted viewpoints and develop capacities for complex and comparative thinking about different types of knowledge and different worldviews.These complexities in the modern learning environment are the reason why institutions in South Africa need to engage with curriculum issues with a view to unpacking what this concept means for us in our context.It is good to see that many universities in South Africa are beginning to refocus their attention on teaching and learning – instead of the often highly prioritised research functions of a university. Large-scale curricular reviews are taking place as well as the strengthening of leadership and institutional structures as a way of driving curriculum renewal.It is therefore an opportune time to be engaging in debates around internationalisation of the curriculum.The special interest groupThe special interest group is an open forum whose objectives are as follows:To provide a platform for promoting debate and sharing understanding of the concept of internationalisation of the curriculum and how this might be relevant to higher education programmes in South Africa, where there are also both increasing numbers of international students being enrolled and increasing internationalisation initiatives.To create a network of academics, internationalisation practitioners, curriculum developers, institutional leaders, policy-makers, researchers and those interested in exploring what internationalisation of the curriculum means for what they teach and how they teach their disciplines and courses, and develop institutional policy.To bring together into a community of practice individuals who are interested in conducting and sharing research into the internationalisation of the curriculum and its implications for teaching and learning.Further to the launch of the special interest group, a blog was established as a virtual platform where dialogue about internationalisation of the curriculum is already taking place. In the inaugural blog post, Leask referred to her research into what internationalisation of the curriculum means in the Australian context and in different programmes of study. She poses the question of whether we should be questioning the dominant paradigms of the largely Eurocentric constructions of curricula we use and their relevance for Africa.Does internationalisation of the curriculum mean different things in Africa from what it does in Australia, Europe America and elsewhere? Are academics aware of the consequences of presenting curricula in an uncritical way, especially when the effects of globalisation are being felt differently in different parts of the world or in different contexts?How can research institutions ensure that teaching is informed by research, which is often done in collaboration with international partners? How is e-learning affecting teaching and learning?Professor Roddy Fox from Rhodes University has responded to Leask’s blog and shared how in his discipline, geography, it is part and parcel of the curriculum to incorporate multiple worldviews in the course of examining global, regional, national and local issues and concepts.This suggests that it may be easier to think of internationalisation of the curriculum within the context of specific disciplines and easier to incorporate international and intercultural dimensions.Professor Chrissie Boughey, also from Rhodes University, has also responded to Leask’s blog post and reflected on the predicament that arises for those being called upon to ‘Africanise’ the curriculum.Boughey’s contention is that internationalisation of the curriculum or Africanisation should “involve more than the insertion of content about Africa, but include an acknowledgement of the different ways of knowing and seeing the world” (that is, from a Western or African point of view or even from a masculine perspective).How should academe treat individuals who bring different perspectives to the learning context? she asks. How does such knowledge get valued?As can be seen from these few blog posts, there are multiple views, responses and questions on the concept of internationalisation of the curriculum, involving content, dominance of certain paradigms, and inclusion of different worldviews in the learning process, attitudes and cultural backgrounds.The blog is now wide open to all who are interested in sharing their views, experiences, practices and research.* Dr Loveness Kaunda is director of internationalisation and heads up the international academic programmes office at the University of Cape Town. She has been a member of the management council of IEASA and chair of its directors' forum for several years. Email: loveness.kaunda@uct.ac.za.