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Session Submission Summary

Impact on internationalization for the public good in community colleges and polytechnics

Sun, March 29, 4:30 to 5:45pm, Hilton, Floor: Fourth Floor - Tower 3, Union Square 3&4

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Narrative
This panel brings together three researcher-practitioners who study different aspects of internationalization at Community College and Polytechnic institutions. Community Colleges and Polytechnics are under-explored in literature and are oftentimes absent from CIES conferences. These institutional types include in their missions four mandates that address the conference theme of using education to advocate for peace within a divided world. First is flexibility which allows these institutions to respond to changing needs of local and national communities (Raby, 2023, Vanderhoven, et al., 2025). The second is access to postsecondary education by locating the college near where students live (Lo & Ip, 2021) and work (Legusov et al., 2021). Third, is a focus on students who are traditionally excluded from higher education (Findeisen et al., 2022). In the US, 57% of students enrolled in this sector are students of color and in Canada, 45%. A significant number of students in this sector study part-time, are first generation students, and single parents (CIC, 2025, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), 2025). Finally, these institutions use education to enhance employability and to build learning opportunities to encourage social and community engagement (Continental Education Strategy for Africa, 2020). A fundamental belief is that Community Colleges and Polytechnics provide education that builds capabilities for better jobs, higher income, and secure living arrangements, all of which help to reduce poverty, inequality, and injustice (UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2015; Legusov et al., 2021).

Format
The proposed panel will extend the conversation around the complexities of internationalization at community colleges/polytechnics in three world contexts in Canada, Ghana, and the United States. The panel includes individual presentations along with coordinated interaction and exchange among presenters. In discussion, the panelists will be asked to reflect on the 1) how a divided world is influencing community college internationalization? 2) how can internationalization pedagogy and curriculum influence the sector?
The first presenters share information on a transnational virtual program, the Pan-African Virtual College, that was collaboratively created with the California Community College system and the University of Ghana. This case study shows how experiential learning merges social responsibility with a de-colonialist pedagogy. A focus on internationalizing the curriculum, virtual, and mobility programs are at the core of this program. The second speaker details changing structures of internationalization in Canada overtime. This critical historiography focuses on the intersection of neoliberalism policies and changing international student practices at Canadian community colleges in different time periods. The final speakers unpack international student services at US community colleges. This study shows the range of US community college international student services using a nationally representative website analysis.

Relevance to Conference Theme
Internationalization practices at community colleges/polytechnics align with the CIES conference theme of “Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World” in two ways. First, panelists critically examine how internationalization practices enhance education for public good that in turn can address a divided world. Second, panelists reflect on how internationalization practices support the importance of serving local community needs with a focus education for peace.

Conceptual Framework
The panelists share variations on two theoretical frameworks. First, the unintended consequences of internationalization framework (Raby & Kamyab, 2023) shows that negative and positive unintended consequences can broaden access, address intersectionality of race, class, and gender oppressions, and enable decolonization of pedagogy and curricula. The second theory is critical internationalization (Stein, 2021) which shows how different types of internationalization are situated in the global north with preconceived biases and colonial practices. Internationalization thus can end up doing what is not intended, such as reinforcing Western hegemony and perpetuating harmful power imbalances that draw from broader and long-standing political and social narratives.

Literature Review
The panelists build upon internationalization for the public good literature. The panel examines how education promotes transformative learning (Chan et al., 2021), and how experiential learning engages learners in reflective activities to develop global awareness and inter-cultural understanding (McGrath et al., 2017; Wood & Raby, 2024). Internationalization for the public good also examines how curricula and pedagogy can reframe power dynamics (Buckner & Stein, 2019), respond to local and global challenges (De Wit et al., 2020), and uncover hegemonic assumptions related to power and inequity to re-interpret the norm (Hartman et al., 2020).

Methodology
The panelist use a range of methodologies in their presentations. A case study of the Pan-African Virtual College shows how a critical international curriculum is part of collaborative virtual and hybrid learning. Critical historiography shows patterns of change in international student practices in Canada. Website analysis shows availability of knowledge about the range of international student services at US community colleges.

Significance
Community college internationalization practices have the potential to use education for the public good by interweaving access, internationalization with social action, civic engagement, and agency. The sense of belonging that occurs during and after a virtual or mobility experience positively engages students (Raby, et al., 2022) by enabling students to build meaning from learning experiences (Chwialowska, 2020). International Student Services also build student agency needed for international students to navigate new learning environments that impact overall student success (Raby & Zhang, 2020). Finally, using the lens of unintended consequences and critical internationalization, the internationalization of the curriculum can duplicate the western-centric norm or challenge it to decolonialize knowledge and practices.

Conclusion
The three presentations examine three different countries to share how community college and polytechnic internationalization programs can reinforce social responsibility within a divided world. Internationalization enhances learning opportunities, expands horizons, and enables students and faculty to be change agents.
Most importantly, it reaffirms the role of community colleges and polytechnics in using education as a public good to transform societal needs.

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Individual Presentations

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