Universities' Online Presentation of Institutional Assessments of Internationalization

• In Event: Education

Proposal

"Some universities use formal tools to assess and develop their internationalization. This study explored universities’ online representations of three assessment tools, which included: the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz’s Audit: Internationalisation of Universities; the European Consortium of Accreditation in Higher Education’s (ECA) Certificate of Quality in Internationalisation (CeQuInt) and the International Association of Universities’ (IAU) Internationalization Strategies Advisory Service (ISAS and ISAS 2.0). Quantitative data was collected from the websites of 100% (n=127) of the universities that had used these tools to determine: what information they were sharing about the tools and how they were sharing it; if their international strategies or materials referred to the tools; the intended audience; and whether there were emergent themes or patterns. Four university cases for each tool (n=12) were then constructed solely using universities’ direct online content in order to determine the stories they were telling about each tool, and to explore more specific details, themes, and variations on quantitative findings. Results showed that universities’ uses of these assessments were pragmatic (e.g., for branding, demonstrating quality, strategic planning, or soliciting resources), but also sometimes with more complexity (e.g., using them to develop the university as a whole or as one component of a larger strategic planning process). Some universities delved even more deeply, using the tools and assessment process to: interrogate the ethical and philosophical foundations of the institution; defend their international programming, research, and institutional priorities; develop and present institutional cultures of transparency and openness; consider their roles in colonialism and academic hierarchies; and to examine the impact of institutional values on students and local/regional/international communities. Findings can encourage members of universities—including decision-makers, planners and marketing teams—as well as members of professional associations, assessment panel members and government/policy-makers to reflect and to examine their assumptions, and consider evolving approaches to assessment and internationalization" (Dissertation abstract).

Author

• Laura Crane, Faculty of Education, York University