The Internationalisation of Universities:
Specific Challenges and Opportunities
for Capital City Universities


Dr. Hans de Wit, VU University
Amsterdam/Windesheim University of Applied
Sciences
Editor Journal of Studies in International
Education
jwm.de.wit@windesheim.nl
Poland International Education Conference,
Warsaw, April 17,2008
Terms used for Internationalisation
of
Higher Education :
1. Curriculum related:

International studies, global studies, multicultural
education, intercultural education, peace education,
etc.
2. Mobility related:

Study abroad, education abroad, academic mobility,
foreign students advising, academic exchange, etc.
New: cross border delivery of
education related
Borderless education
 Education across borders or
cross-border education
 Global education
 Offshore education
 International trade of
educational services

Internationalisation Abroad or
Borderless Higher Education (1)



Athough it is not a new phenomenon, it is its
rapidly increasinging scale since the 1990’s that
makes it a relevant phenomenon
The privatisation and deregulation of higher
education have stimulated that traditional public
and private higher education get involved
New private ‘for profit’ providers have entered the
market
Internationalisation Abroad or
Borderless Higher Education (2)




GATS (1995), including trade in educational services,
became a highly debated response to this increasing
phenomenon
International trade in education services accounts for
app. 3% of global services exports, primarily through
student mobility
Trade is already more important than aid in higher
education
Programme mobility (Franchising, twinning, joint and
double degrees) and Consumption Abroad (International
Student Mobility) are the most dominant forms.
New Driving Forces/Rationales

Strategic alliances

Regionalisation (Bologna Process)

National Security (9/11)

Revenue Generation

Skilled Migration

Standards, Status, Profile, Branding,
Ranking
Implications for Internationalisation

Internationalisation can be seen as to consist of
two components:
Internationalisation at Home: activities that help students
develop international understanding and intercultural
skills
Internationalisation Abroad: all forms of education
crossing borders, mobility of students, teachers,
scholars, programmes, courses, curriculum, projects
(Knight, 2006)
These are basically the new versions of the two
traditional categories of curriculum and mobility
forms of international education.
Future Challenges for
Internationalisation of Higher Education


Skilled immigration: competition for skilled labour
in the global knowledge economy between
developed countries and emerging countries.
The increasingly more competitive higher
education environment, which requires new
approaches and strategies for cooperation than
the traditional ones
Opportunities


Education more and more important in a
knowledge society
Stronger regional cooperation, such as the
development of the European Higher Education
Area

Increase demand for education and research to
solve increasingly complex global problems

New and deeper forms of international cooperation

New dimensions and perspectives gained through
entering the global educational market place
Universities in Capital Cities

Do they have specific challenges
and opportunities of
Internationalisation?
Qualitative ranking of the university potential of the European cities
(personal elaboration on the basis of the 2007 Shanghai Jiao Tong
University ranking of the 500 best universities in the world, UNICA,
VanderMotten, September 2007)
1 ère v ille
First Cit y
Roy aume-Uni Unit ed Kingdom LONDON (23,5)
Allemagne
Germany
München (6,5)
France
France
PARIS (24,2)
It alie
It aly
Milano (6,1)
Pay s-Bas
Net herlands
AMSTERDAM (6,3)
Suède
Sweden
STOCKHOLM (12,0)
Suisse
Swit zerland
Zürich (6,5)
Belgique
Belgium
BRUXELLES (5,8)
Espagne
Spain
MADRID (5,9)
Aut riche
Aust ria
WIEN (7,0)
Danemark
Denmark
KOBENHAVN (6,4)
Finlande
Finland
HELSINKI (4,3)
Norv ège
Norway
OSLO (3,2)
Irlande
Ireland
DUBLIN (5,6)
Russie
Russia
MOSKVA (3,2)
Grèce
Greece
ATHINAI (2,9)
Hongrie
Hungary
BUDAPEST (2,6)
Pologne
Poland
WARSZAWA (2,6)
Rép. t chèque Czech Rep.
PRAHA (2,9)
Port ugal
Port ugal
LISBOA (1,0)
Slov énie
Slov enia
LJUBLJANA (1,0)
2 ème v ille
Second Cit y
Glasgow (4,2)
Heidelberg (3,2)
Aix -Marseille (5,6)
Pisa (5,8)
Ut recht (3,3)
Uppsala (6,2)
Lausanne (6,1)
Gent (3,2)
Barcelona (5,7)
Innsbruck (3,6)
Aarhus (3,2)
Turku (2,6)
Trondheim (2,9)
Cork (1,0)
St Pet ersburg (2,6)
Thessaloniki (2,6)
Szeged (2,6)
Krakow (2,6)
Port o (1,0)
3 ème v ille
Third Cit y
Cambridge (3,3)
Göt t ingen (3,2)
Ly on (3,9)
ROMA (4,2)
Leiden (3,2)
Göt eborg (5,9)
Basel (3,2)
Leuv en (3,2)
Valencia (5,6)
Graz (3,6)
Odense (2,9)
Oulu (2,6)
Bergen (2,6)
Tot al
Sum
115,4
109,8
55,2
46,3
36,2
31,3
23,1
21,2
20,2
14,3
12,5
10,5
9,8
6,6
5,9
5,6
5,3
5,3
2,9
2,0
1,0
Implications

The most important cities, in particular
capital cities, are concentrating the most
important university potential (with the
exception of Germany, Switzerland and
Italy)

Even if sometimes in peri-metropolitan locations :
Louvain and Louvain-la-Neuve, Oxford,
Cambridge, Uppsala, etc. (VanderMotten, 2007)
Capital cities Universities in the THE
ranking 2007
Key aspects:
1.
25% of the universities (37) in the top 150
are from Capital Cities and 50% of the 40 UNICA
members
2.
Paris (6) and London (5) are the best
represented, followed by Berlin, Stockholm and
Dublin (3), and
Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Helsinki and
Vienna (2).
3.
28 out of the 37 are in 10 Capital Cities.
4.
Only 3 in Southern Europe and 2 in Central and
Eastern Europe, all in the second half of the list.
International Staff and Student Factor in
the THE Ranking
1.
All 5 London universities score high on
international staff and students.
This is also the case for 2 of the 3
Stockholm Universities and one from the 6
of Paris.
2.
From the three universities in Southern
Europe two score very low both on staff
and students, as does one of the two
universities in Central and Eastern Europe.
3.
All 6 universities in Paris score lower on
international staff than on international
students, 3 of them even extremely lower.
The same is true, although to a lesser
extreme for the three universities in Berlin
and the 2 universities in Vienna.
4.
In contrast, the 2 universities in
Amsterdam score much lower on
international students than on staff. The
same is true for the three universities in
Dublin, although to a lesser extent.
Conclusions from the Rankings




Universities in Capital cities play a leading global
and regional role in Research and Education, in
particular if one includes the peri-metropolitan
universities.
This is true for North-Western Europe but not (yet)
for Southern and Central and Eastern European
universities (in general and for universities in
capital cities).
The English Language and Anglosaxian Higher
Education Orientation play an important factor, in
general and in particular in the recruitment of
international talents.
Strategic Alliances between universities from capital
cities can increase their leading position even more,
as together they are a strong pool.
UNICA


UNICA promotes itself as ‘an Institutional Network of
Excellence of Universities from the Capital cities of
Europe’, with more than 40 universities, 30 countries,
1.8 million students and 150.000 staff.
It is active in:
Internationalistation & Mobility
Policy & Strategy
Education
Research & Development
Mission & Link with Society
http://www.unica-network.eu
Mission & Link with Society
Activities:


Urban-Capial working Group
Contact with the Union of the
Capitals of the European Union.
Weaknesses



UNICA Universities and their cities are not
cooperating in a strategic and innovative
way to improve their positions as leading
international entities in the knowledge
economy
The same applies to their regional
associations
UNICA as well as other alliances and
networks of city universities have not
been very effective in exploring the
opportunities of cooperation with their
cities
Opportunities



Capital cities are international and
intercultural centres: demographically,
culturally, economically, financially, and
academically.
Such centres are a most valuable asset to
recruit international top talent.
They also create a positive environment
for national top talent, that can compete
in an international knowledge economy
Challenges


City authorities, the private sector and university
management should develop a joint strategy to
provide a positive climate for national and
international talent: industry-university
partnerships, scholarships, internship
opportunities, employment opportunities, housing
facilities, an open cultural climate.
(See for instance the Freie Universitat Berlin
Excelence Initiative)
They also should develop joint strategic alliances
with similar cities: joint degree programmes, joint
industry-univrsity partnerships, joint centers of
excellence.
THE DYNAMICS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
CIRCULATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Hans De Wit
Windesheim Hogeschool, The Netherlands
Pawan Agarwal
Minorities Development and Welfare Department, India
Mohsen Elmahdy Said
Ministry of Higher Education, Egypt
Molatlhegi T.Sehoole
University of Pretoria, South Africa
and



Muhammad Sirozi
Graduate Studies Program of IAIN, Indonesia (Eds.)
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