Internationalization of the Curriculum in South Africa by Orla Quinlan
1. Global dynamism and Higher Education
We live in a dynamic, interconnected, interdependent world. The economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments and disruptions, in any one place, affect and influence developments and disruptions in other places. Pressing global issues such as the recent global financial crisis; inequality between nation states and within nation states; consumerist lifestyles; environmental degradation; changing climate; illnesses and diseases for which we have no preventative vaccines; migration; refuges and the other effects of war and insecurity are not kraaled within the borders of Nation States. The effects spill across borders into neighbouring States, across Regions and across the Globe. Clearly, in a world faced with issues that transcend national boundaries, addressing these issues will require international collaboration, research and political will.Because this is the reality of our global context, it is imperative that Higher Education plays its part in developing a greater understanding of the global context. Higher Education must rise to the challenge of producing graduates and researchers who are informed about key global developments and challenges and who can situate their own thinking, research, teaching and learning within the global context. Higher Education not only provides an opportunity for its constituents to developing thinking and learning skills; to aquire, develop, interrogate and create knowledge at the academic level but it also provides an opportunity to aquire, develop, interrogate and create attributes and skills to participate effectively in the world. The individuals who have the privilege of engaging in Higher Education will go on to make contributions not only in academic and professional roles but also as citizens at the local, national and global level. They will be operating in an uncertain world where they will continuously need to be proactive, propositional and creative thinkers. Regardless of where they work be they public or private institutions, unlike previous generations, they will be expected to consider endeavours from multiple perspectives in terms of economic, environmental and social impact. Furthermore, in order to continuously make a constructive contribution, they need to be prepared for life-long learning, as the challenges shift and new thinking and new solutions are required.Internationalisation in Higher Education is core to the academic project in this ever-changing world. However, physically moving across borders is expensive for many students, particularly for students in less well-off countries and there is an increasing recognition of the importance of internationalising the curriculum on our own campuses.
2. Internationalisation of the curriculum
Internationalisation of the curriculum is an important strategy to increase understanding of the interconnectivity between the transmission and production of local knowledge and the transmission and production of knowledge that transcends borders. Internationalisation of the curriculum can also increase global awareness and is of concern to all students (South African and International; undergraduate and postgraduate) and all academics (South African and International) working within the South African Higher Education system. While Internationalisation of the curriculum is a conversation that may be happening internationally and the content of an internationalised curriculum is implicitly international, the starting point and content of each conversation will differ within each context, depending on its own unique trajectory, its historical access to intellectual resources, its current context and future aspirations. Our departure point in discussing the curriculum in South Africa will be different to that of any other country. In fact, within each institution, each Faculty, each department and each course, the conversations will start at different places. However, while the starting point, the content and the pace of each conversation on internationalisation of the curriculum may vary, there will be always be common questions that can stimulate thinking and encourage learning from others experiences.
3. Historical factors affecting curriculum in South African Higher Education
Curriculum in South Africa was strongly influenced by its historical and political context. As the political context was interrupted or disrupted, so too were the activities of many of the country’s educational institutions. We could consider five distinct periods where the context has had a profound effect on the curriculum selected and officially transmitted within the South African context.The first relevant period was Colonisation. During this time, Faculty initially came from Europe to teach at universities. The curriculum selected was simply imported from Europe and indiscernible from curriculum being taught in the European context at the beginning of the century.A second relevant period was during Apartheid, when education institutions were increasingly segregated. Curriculum content being taught at different Universities was differentiated. Access to certain levels and types of education was inextricably linked with the political intentions of those in power for “racial” groups, as socially constructed by the apartheid system. A third period emerged when the Anti–Apartheid movement and cultural boycott gained momentum and South Africa experienced increasing international isolation. Within this context, Higher Education also became more isolated. Simultaneously, exiled South Africans were accessing Higher Education in other countries (Many of these later returned to South Africa). This period of isolation affected South Africa in different ways. There were some innovative developments in medicine and technology within the country, as it had to become more self-reliant. However, within some disciplines in the humanities and education, access to divergent political and historical views was curtailed with increased censorship and restricted access to library books.A fourth period was the Post-Apartheid era, when the country became a democracy. With the increase in international engagement at every level, including Higher Education, there was an increase in inward-bound and outward-bound academic and student mobility. However, having experienced the domination of specific ideologies across the curriculum, there was a drive by many academics to Africanise the curriculum; an increased desire to draw on indigenous knowledge and perspectives and to deconstruct the paradigms that had dominated how various disciplines were taught within South Africa. There are some who associate the term “internationalisation of the curriculum” with the historical experience of international knowledge dominating the curriculum at the expense of African knowledge and perspectives. There are others who have always and continue to engage internationally in their own fields. The issue in some disciplines was not so much, that the curriculum wasn’t internationalised but rather, how it was internationalised; whose knowledge was transmitted; who was creating new knowledge; whose knowledge was being omitted and who was not having the opportunity to contribute to the development of new and alternative knowledge. As we approach twenty years of democracy in South Africa and a Higher Education system that has undergone many changes over the last two decades. The extent to which internationalisation has been institutionalised in South Africa varies widely. Similarly, the motivation for academics to seriously reflect on the extent to which the curriculum they are teaching is internationalised varies greatly.One could argue that we are entering into a fifth period where significant external developments in the geopolitical environment are influencing not only the global and national context but also research agendas and curriculum in Higher Education. With the rise of many middle income countries globally and the formation of the BRICS alliance, influences are already being felt in Higher Education in South Africa. The extent of these influences requires further exploration but they could be significant. For example, there are now four Confucius institutes in South African Education Institutions.Curriculum has always been selected, out of a wide range of possible alternatives. What has informed that selection at any moment in time has varied greatly over the years. Going forward, Internationalisation of curriculum In South Africa might have to be a balance between the inclusion of knowledge and perspectives that were significant but historically omitted and the inclusion of new and innovative developments that promote a deeper understanding of the “here and now” of global dynamics.
