Internationalisation in higher education

In the second half of 1998, the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) decided to embark on a project devoted to the state of play in internationalisation of higher education. After a long period during which international cooperation had been at best a minor concern among the topical issues in the higher ducation debate, it started to move centre-stage in the 1990s. It thus appeared to be the right time to attempt to take stock of developments, and to look at the agendas ahead of us. The present publication contains the results of this project, which fall into two related but distinct parts. Part I consists of a longer essay, which tries to systematise the issue of internationalisation by giving an overview. The essay looks at the motivations for internationalisation, the activities that constitute internationalisation, and the policies of internationalisation. It also includes a case study of international cooperation in Europe, one of the continents where international higher education cooperation is well advanced. This paper was written by Bernd Wächter, Director of ACA, in collaboration with Aaro Ollikainen, ACA research officer from CIMO in Helsinki, and Brigitte Hasewend, Deputy Director of ACA.