Internationalization of Higher Education

Journal entitled The internationalization of higher education: Perspectives on self-conceptions in teaching by Vesa Korhonen, University of Tampere, Finland and Markus Weil, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland examines about the importance of internationalization of higher education in teaching and learning for university teachers.

Meeting diverse cultures and world views can be an everyday challenge for a university teacher. The teachers’ perspective is an important one if we see internationalization beyond a strategy. Teachers’ cultural competency within the classroom, especially for those who are not trained to expect cultural diversity, may generate discussions and debates around ethnocentricity. Thus, there is a clear need to make visible the influence of internationalization from the perspective of the university staff’s teaching practice and their self-conceptions. This perspective includes aims such as enhancing global skill-building and improving intercultural relations in culturally mixed classrooms.