Internationalisation in different higher education systems
With the support of EU funding, the project 'The academic voice in quality and internationalisation of Czech and British higher education' (ACVOIHE) drew on critical events relayed by 81 senior academics within the three higher education (HE) systems. The approach has refined the critical event narrative inquiry method as particularly suited to exploring complex, human-centred environments. Research underlined the complexity of the phenomena of internationalisation and quality, and how they relate to each other. This helped ACVOIHE to highlight how socioeconomic, cultural, historical and political contexts played a central role in shaping Australian, Czech and English HE. Various issues raised by the academics were taken into account, and certain similarities were identified. The interviewees emphasised the need to consider context when adopting or proposing particular models in relation to internationalisation. Concerns were also noted, within all three systems, about the current hegemony of English as the global language of communication. Many of the academics, in discussion of critical events, referred to the complexity of developing international and intercultural competencies in themselves and then developing these in others. This called for substantial interest and engagement on their part, as well as support and engagement across their institution. Project work was extended to research on the employability of graduates and graduate attributes in situations where internationalisation plays a key role.