My first experience in Higher Education… 

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As far as you know, this semester I have chosen Higher Education elective “Globalization and Higher Education” because I am very interested in the difference between School Leadership Program and Higher Education Leadership Program. Amazing! But suddenly, I realized that these are two very different spheres. Of course, they are somehow related, but it still remains to be “alien” to me. What I have learnt from Mr.Jack’s classes is that over the last half-century, the world has changed dramatically as a result of globalization process. Internationalization of higher education is the response to these shifts. It is a dynamic process continuously shaped and reshaped by the international context in which it occurs. 

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In our lessons we always try to analyze this process from different perspectives. But the main aim is to understand how the institutions perceive and adapt to initiatives, developments and policies of internationalization.

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This was my first experience of such kind of work: you choose an article, analyze it and the present your findings as if you are an expert in this particular field. Luckily, I analyzed the Nordic (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) and Norwegian universities through two theoretical frameworks:

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     1) the categorization of internationalization forms: old and new;

     2) common and variational trends.

According to my analyses, the "old" forms of internationalization prevailed because most of the universities actions were oriented to staff recruitment and cooperation. Among "new" forms was only the use of ICT in education.

Among the three common trends were:       

• Formalization of internationalization (the establishment of separate and special offices);
• Centralization of internationalization (all institutional agreements were committed at the top level);
• Professionalization of internationalization (the introduction of skilled and trained specialists in the sphere).

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However, the common trends did not surprise me at all. In my opinion, these trends were the typical responses of the universities to changes which happened in the sphere of education. Universities open “International offices” create plans on the top levels (because nobody is going to give you freedom, if you do not have any experience on that), and hire specialists and professionals who will deal with all these stuff and who will work in these offices.

Among the variational trends were:

• Geographical location (urban/rural);
• Status of the university (local/national/international).

In conclusion I can say that the gap between national policy-making and institutional interpretation of internationalization only slowed down the process of internationalization implementation. What was more obvious from the results is that even taking into account the fact that more institutional autonomy was allowed by the government, it (government) still played a major role in the development of higher education system in both studies (Nordic and Norwegian). From my personal point of view, the internationalization will stop being only a formality and will become a reality, when the government gives “a horse the bridle” (or “gives loose reign to universities”).

This was my first experience in Higher Education, and my first step was not troublesome! That is why I suggest you not to be afraid of something that is out of your comfort zone and try new things. Who knows, may be you will like it? as I did ;))) You will not regret, believe me)

At the end I will ask you to share with your first experience in something that new for you... 

Looking forward to reading your stories... 

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                                                   Reference:

Stensaker, B., Frølich, N., Gornitzka, Å., & Maassen, P. (2008). Internationalisation of higher education: the gap between national policy‐making and institutional needs. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 6(1), 1-11.