The Road to Intercultural Development and Internationalization

Abstract

The post-secondary educational landscape is slowly becoming a backdrop for an increasing number of examples of efforts being made to establish intercultural development and internationalization at the university and college levels. Universities and colleges are responding to the increase in international student recruitment and to technological advancement both of which promote collaboration in research, teaching, and studying across borders. The growing demographic diversity has resulted in changes to how and what internationalization looks like in our post-secondary institutions and in higher education in general. This chapter explores four areas that are key to the process: buy-in from the Administration, support in the curricular arena, recognition for intercultural work of faculty members, and a more centralized mechanism and structure to help advance the internationalization agenda. Despite the progress made in Canada, these areas are still continuing to gain traction in higher education in other countries.