Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Internationalization of Higher Education.pdf

Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of
Internationalization of Higher Education
The World Bank's 1991 'World Development Report' has made a
very interesting observation that the scientific and technological
progress and enhanced productivity in any nation have a close
link with investment in human capital as well as the quality of the
economic environment. Scientific and technological capabilities
are, however, unevenly distributed in the world and are linked with
the education system in a nation.
The 21st century has seen quite massive changes in higher
education systems both in terms of the complexity of the systems
and also in terms of its utility for converting education into an
effective tool for social and economic changes. A very interesting
relationship is emerging between education, knowledge,
conversion of knowledge into suitable entities from a trade point
of view, wealth, and economy.
Internationalization of education includes the policies and
practices undertaken by academic systems and institutions-and
even individuals-to cope with the global academic environment.
The motivations for internationalization include commercial
advantage, knowledge and language acquisition, enhancing the
curriculum with international content, and many others. Specific
initiatives such as branch campuses, cross-border collaborative
arrangements, programs for international students, establishing
English-medium programs and degrees, and others have been
put into place as part of internationalization. Efforts to monitor

international initiatives and ensure quality are integral to the
international higher education environment.
The higher education system across the world has witnessed two
more interesting revolutions. The first is connected with the
advent and use of computers in teaching and learning, as well as
research, and the second is linked with the communication
revolution. Today, education transcends geographical boundaries.
Besides, the structure and context of academic work also have
undergone tremendous change. Student diversity and the
administrative and pedagogical demands of new modes of
curricula delivery characterize the academic's everyday working
environment.
The accomplishment of any educational change is linked with the
readiness of teachers to implement new methods and innovative
practices. The present paper is an attempt to understand the role
of teachers in the internationalization of higher education in India.
The focus of the present paper is to be acquainted with the
challenges and opportunities for faculty in the context of the
internationalization of higher education and their inclination to
adapt to the change.
Review of literature:
A growing number of papers and studies document the many
ways in which the university experience of students and academic
and administrative staff has been radically transformed [Chandler
& Clark 2001, Deem 2001]. Student diversity and the
administrative and pedagogical demands of new modes of

curricula delivery characterize the academic's everyday working
environment. Identities as academics are under constant
challenge as academic staff take on multiple and often conflicting
roles as consultants, researchers, teachers, counselors, and
international marketers. Support for academics involved in
international activities is scarce and the central strategic control of
resources with its demands for flexibility compromises the quality
of academic life.
A qualitative study examines the role of international experience
in the transformative learning of female educators as it relates to
professional development in a higher education context. It also
investigates how the learning productions of these experiences
were transferred to the participant's home country. Nine American
female faculty and administrators who worked at universities in
Arab countries in the Gulf region participated in this study. The
results suggest that the transformative learning of the female
educators was reflected in three themes: changes in personal and
professional attitudes, experiencing a new classroom environment
that included different students' learning styles and unfamiliar
classroom behavior, and broadening of participants' global
perspectives. Another study sought to assess how and why some
higher education institutions have responded to aspects of
globalization and, in particular how organizational culture
influences universities' responses to globalization. Using a
predominantly qualitative, mixed-methods approach, empirical
research was used to explore the impact of globalization at four
Canadian universities. A multiple, case-study approach was used
to achieve a depth of understanding to establish the universities'

culture, institutional strategies, and practices in response to
globalization.
Context of the study:
Political & educational context
Everyone recognizes that India has a serious higher education
problem. Although India's higher education system, with more
than 13 million students, is the world's third largest, it only
educates around 12 percent of the age group, well under China's
27 percent and half or more in middle-income countries. Thus, it
is a challenge of providing access to India's expanding population
of young people and rapidly growing middle class. India also
faces a serious quality problem - given that only a tiny proportion
of the higher education sector can meet international standards.
The justly famous Indian Institutes of Technology and the
Institutes of Management, a few specialized schools such as the
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research constitute a tiny elite, as
do one or two private institutions such as the Birla Institute of
Technology and Science, and perhaps 100 top-rated
undergraduate colleges. Almost all of India's 480 public
universities and more than 25,000 undergraduate colleges are, by
international standards, mediocre at best. India has complex legal
arrangements for reserving places in higher education for
members of various disadvantaged population groups. Often
setting aside up to half of the seats for such groups, places further
stress on the system.

Capacity problem
India faces severe problems of capacity in its educational system
in part because of underinvestment over many decades. More
than a third of Indians remain illiterate after more than a
half-century of independence. A new law that makes primary
education free and compulsory, while admirable, it takes place in
a context of scarcity of trained teachers, inadequate budgets, and
shoddy supervision. The University Grants Commission and the
All-India Council for Technical Education, responsible respectively
for supervising the universities and the technical institutions, are
being abolished and replaced with a new combined entity. But no
one knows just how the new organization will work or who will
staff it. India's higher education accrediting and quality assurance
organization, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council,
which was well-known for its slow movement, is being shaken up.
But, again, it is unclear how it might be changed.
Current plans include the establishing of new national
"world-class" universities in each of India's States, opening new
IITs, and other initiatives. The fact is that academic salaries do not
compare favorably with remuneration offered by India's growing
private sector and are uncompetitive by international standards.
Many of India's top academics are teaching in the United States,
Britain, and elsewhere. Even Ethiopia and Eritrea recruit Indian
academics.
Welcoming foreign universities:

Very recently it is announced that the government of India is
preparing itself for permitting foreign universities to enter the
Indian market. The foreigners are expected to provide the
much-needed capacity and new ideas on higher education
management, curriculum, teaching methods, and research. It is
hoped that they will bring investment. Top-class foreign
universities are anticipated to add prestige to India's
postsecondary system. All of these assumptions are at the very
least questionable. While foreign transplants elsewhere in the
world have provided some additional access, they have not
dramatically increased student numbers. Almost all branch
campuses are small and limited in scope and field. In the Persian
Gulf, Vietnam, and Malaysia, where foreign branch campuses
have been active, student access has been only modestly
affected by them. Branch campuses are typically fairly small and
almost always specialized in fields that are inexpensive to offer
and have a ready clientele such as business studies, technology,
and hospitality management. Few branch campuses bring much
in the way of academic innovation. Typically, they use tried and
true management, curriculum, and teaching methods. The
branches frequently have little autonomy from their home
university and are, thus, tightly controlled from abroad.
Foreign providers will bring some investment to the higher
education sector, particularly since the new law requires an
investment of a minimum of $11 million - a kind of entry fee - but
the total amount brought into India is unlikely to be very large.
Global experience shows that the large majority of higher
education institutions entering a foreign market are not prestigious

universities but rather low-end institutions seeking market access
and income. Top universities may well establish collaborative
arrangements with Indian peer institutions or study/research
centers in India, but are unlikely to build full-fledged branch
campuses on their own. There may be a few exceptions, such as
the Georgia Institute of Technology, which is apparently thinking
of a major investment in Hyderabad.
Indian education is a joint responsibility of the Central and State
governments - and many States have differing approaches to
higher education generally and to foreign involvement in
particular. Some, such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, have
been quite interested. The other States such as West Bengal with
its communist government may be more skeptical. And a few,
such as Chhattisgarh have been known to sell access to
university status to the highest bidders.
The 30-Day Content Marketing Plan

Significance of study:
The volatile situation in the higher education system vis-à-vis the
internationalization of higher education creates many
opportunities as well as challenges for the teachers of higher
education. Pressures for change in the field of teacher education
are escalating significantly as part of systemic education reform
initiatives in a broad spectrum of economically developed and
developing nations. Considering these pressures, it is surprising
that relatively little theoretical or empirical analysis of learning and
change processes within teacher education programs has been
undertaken. The present study considers this situation and makes
an endeavor to understand the challenges faced or anticipated by
the teaching faculty in the context of internalization of education.
Aims of the study:
The present study is aimed to understand and analyze the
position of college teachers in general and those of working
undergraduate colleges.
Data collection:
Locale of the study:
Data for the present study is collected from the college teachers
situated in Hyderabad. Colleges in Hyderabad are generally

affiliated with Osmania University. In addition to various colleges,
the city is home to three central universities, two deemed
universities, and six state universities. Osmania University,
established in 1917, is the seventh oldest university in India and
the third oldest in South India. Indian School of Business, an
international business school ranked number 12 in global MBA
rankings by the Financial Times of London in 2010 is also located
in Hyderabad.
Colleges in Hyderabad offer graduation and post-graduation and
post-graduation programs in science, arts, commerce, law &
medicine. College of Engineering - Osmania University,
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Indian Institute of
Technology, etc. are some of the famous engineering colleges in
Hyderabad. In addition to engineering colleges, various institutes
known as polytechnics offer a three-year course in engineering.
Gandhi Medical College and Osmania Medical College are the
centers of medical education in Hyderabad. Colleges and
universities in Hyderabad are run by either the state government,
central government, or private individuals or agencies. Hyderabad
Central University, Nalsar, NIPER, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu
University, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, English and
Foreign Languages University, and Acharya N.G. Ranga
Agricultural University, are some of the other universities located
in Hyderabad.

Bitcoin Profit Secrets
Universe and sample:
There are 146-degree colleges offering undergraduate courses
[B.Sc., B.Com, and B.A] situated in Hyderabad. Teachers working
in these colleges are taken as the universe for the present study.
Most of these colleges are having academic consultants whose
tenure is limited either to one term or one academic year.
Academic consultants are not eligible for faculty development
programs of the University Grants Commission. Various programs
meant for faculty development are available for aided college
teachers. Hence, the present study has selected aided college
teachers working in Hyderabad as a sub-category of the universe.

At the outset, a focused group interview is conducted in order to
collect information as to the willingness to train oneself for the
internationalization of higher education. Out of 150 lecturers who
participated in this focused group interview fifty were selected as
samples for the present study by using the random sampling
method.
Data for the present study is collected by using an in-depth
interview method with the help of a schedule. Information as to
the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents,
educational achievements, awareness of national and global
career structures, research culture, working conditions, and
information as to the strategies adapted by the college in order to
equip for internationalization is collected. Data collection is done
during the months of march-may 2010.
The qualitative information on awareness and availability of
national and global career structures, strategies for integrating the
international dimension, professional development, needs for
post-doctoral research culture, refresher courses, and working
conditions was collected by using the case study method using
in-depth interviews.
National and global career structures:
Kalisch and Enders [2005, pp.131-32] note that faculty work is
shaped by three overlapping sets of institutions: 1] the generic
science system, and systems in each discipline which to a varying
extent are cross-national, emphasize autonomy and mobility of
researchers, and foster competition based on scholarly merit and

prestige; 2] rules about work, competition and careers, where
academic work is embedded in national policy and cultural
settings; and 3] the organizational operations of universities,
which both reflect national and local traditions and are touched by
common trends such as massification, growing expectations
about social relevance and the nationally-parallel global
transformations. A fourth element in the mix that might be of
growing importance is the impact of internationalization and
globalization on academic careers.
The present study finds that the available opportunities for the
teaching faculty are based on all these four elements. Most of the
respondents experienced the interplay of all these elements in
their work life. More than fifty percent of the respondents felt that
the massification of education is burdensome and acts as an
obstacle to faculty improvement.
Faculty mobility has long been a positive professional norm
though varying by nation and field [El-Khawas, 2002, pp.242-43]
and also varying somewhat in motive. A small number of
researchers have expertise and reputations that confer superior
opportunities in many countries. However, most teaching faculty
have primarily national careers and use the cross-border
experience to advance their position at home, traveling mostly at
the doctoral and postdoctoral stages and for short visits. A third
group consists of faculty with lesser opportunities at home
compared to abroad, due to remuneration or conditions of work,
the denial of national careers due to social or cultural closure, or
an economic freeze on hiring. This group has less transformative
potential than elite researchers.

Excellence in education will require improvement in infrastructure,
well-crafted courses, e-learning materials, access to laboratories,
computational facilities, and above all well-trained and highly
motivated teachers. When asked about the availability of
resources and opportunities for research, 78 percent of the
respondents opined that there are many bottlenecks. In most
colleges, e-learning, and internet facilities are not available. Even
their college libraries mostly will have books useful for the
undergraduate students rather than useful for further research by
the teaching faculty. Most of the respondents felt that they are not
exposed to the pedagogical methods acceptable internationally.
Hence, their awareness of the teaching methods is not much. At
the same time, they were not trained in the teaching-learning
process relevant for the internationalized educational system
while doing their post-graduation or pre-doctoral/doctoral level.
Strategies for integrating the internal dimension:
There are many ways to describe the initiatives which are
undertaken to internationalize an institution. They are often
referred to as activities, components, procedures, or strategies. In
the process-oriented approach to internationalization, emphasis is
placed on the concept of enhancing and sustaining the
international dimensions of research. Most colleges in general,
autonomous colleges, and colleges with potential for excellence
are following the process-oriented approach. Yet, the faculty is not
ready to equip themselves for this internationalization. The
reasons mentioned by the respondents include more work, fear of
losing a job, lengthy working hours, high aided-unaided teaching

faculty ratio, low job satisfaction levels, and lack of facilities at the
institutional level.
Learn French by speaking!
Professional Development Needs
Faculty members, or academic staff, as they are called in many
countries, constitute a critical ingredient influencing the quality
and effectiveness of higher education institutions. Universities in
the developing world cannot respond to external changes and

pressures without the involvement of capable, committed, and
knowledgeable faculty members. The challenge for many faculty
members, however, is that they are being asked to fulfill tasks and
assume roles for which they are not adequately prepared.
Besides, there are not many training centers to well equip them.
Academic staff colleges are providing refresher and orientation
courses but these courses are attended by those whose
promotions are linked with attending refresher courses.
Post-doctoral research culture
Unlike the advanced countries, where a large pool of
post-doctoral research fellows carries out the bulk of high-quality
research, there is a near total absence of a post-doctoral culture
in India.79 percent of the respondents expressed their willingness
to pursue post-doctoral research but said that they are not able to
do due to financial problems.
Although the number of women at post-graduate and doctoral
levels in various universities is high, very few of them make
sufficient advance in their careers for a variety of social reasons.
Women teachers and teachers who studied in vernacular medium
felt that though they are interested their family responsibilities and
the problem with language and communication act as major
challenges for them.
Conclusion:
Higher education in India has entered a new phase with the
invasion of foreign universities and the increasing aspirations of

Indian students. This has created a need to revive the
pedagogical methods. But the question still remains, whether the
teaching faculty are ready to accept these changes or not. It is
found in the present study that the teachers are ready to accept
the challenges of global teaching. The need of the hour is to equip
Indian teachers than permitting foreign universities to establish
their campuses in India. This requires an appropriate teacher
education that can address the issue of organizational learning.
Charles A. Peck, Chrysan Gallucci, Tine Sloan, and Ann
Lippincott [2009] illustrated some ways in which contemporary
socio-cultural learning theory may be used as a lens for
addressing the issues of organizational learning in teacher
education. Using a theoretical framework developed by Harré
[1984], they showed how processes of individual and collective
learning led to changes in a teacher education program. Important
innovations in program practice were generally found to have their
sources in the creative work of individual faculty. However,
program level changes required negotiation of new ideas and
practices within small groups of faculty, and with the larger
collective of the program. The present study would like to
conclude that the Harré model, and the socio-cultural learning
theories from which it is derived, may offer a useful theoretical
framework for interpreting complex social processes underlying
organizational renewal, innovation, and change.
References:
El-Khawas, E. 2002 "Developing Academic Career in a
Globalizing World", in J.Enders and O. Fulton [ed.] Higher

Education in a Globalizing World: International Trends and Mutual
Observations, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp.242-54
Charles A. Peck, Chrysan Gallucci, Tine Sloan, and Ann
Lippincott [2009] Organizational learning and program renewal in
teacher education: A socio-cultural theory of learning, innovation,
and change, Educational Research Review Volume 4, Issue 1,
2009, Pages 16-25
Harré, R. (1984). Personal being: A theory for individual
psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Whether the teaching faculty are ready to accept the changes in
higher education or not? The present study is an attempt to
analyze the readiness, training, and opportunities available to the
teachers of higher education in general and undergraduate
college teachers in particular. Though teachers are ready to
accept the challenges of global teaching, there is hardly any
training facility to train them for global teaching or intercultural
communication to better equip them for this. Not only that, syllabi
of present post-graduation never teach intercultural diversities.
There is a need to overhaul the entire higher education system.
Worksheets for German grammar

Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Internationalization of Higher Education.pdf

Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Internationalization of Higher Education.pdf

More Related Content

Similar to Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Internationalization of Higher Education.pdf

Recently uploaded

Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Internationalization of Higher Education.pdf