Re-Imagining Higher Education Internationalization: Centering Connectivity with Self, Nature, and Others

• In Event: Eastern wisdom traditions and implications for education

Proposal

Around the world, there is a continued push for internationalization in the higher education sector, and much of the reasoning behind this movement is framed in terms of power. In other words, countries and individual universities are often pursuing internationalization as a means for increasing political or economic power globally. This approach adopts neoliberal principles and inspires competition – for students, for money, for market share. However, alternative discourses are now re-emerging that analyze the potential for an internationalized higher education sector to serve more humanistic and sustainability oriented purposes. In other words, instead of thinking about higher education internationalization for its self-serving potential (in terms of gaining global dominance), some scholars and practitioners are choosing to consider how it can be used as a force for increased global and environmental harmony (Knight, 2015; Yonezawa, Kitamura, Meerman, & Kuroda 2014). This paper draws on spiritual and philosophical traditions from Japan (Shinto and Buddhism in particular) to imagine what higher education internationalization might look like if we started from the foundational values of cultivating relationships with our inner selves, with nature, and with other people. It also describes some initiatives from universities in Japan that are attempting to shift the intentions around internationalization toward an approach grounded in Eastern wisdoms. Through reviewing these examples and elaborating on the wisdom that Shinto and Japanese Buddhism can add to the discourse on higher education internationalization, this paper outlines actionable steps that various actors within higher education may be able to take that align with virtues and values of human oneness and nature connection when designing, implementing, and evaluating internationalization efforts.

Author

• Sachi T. Edwards, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa