Student Perceptions of Internationalization of the Curriculum

Abstract

One of the recent imperatives in higher education worldwide has been internationalization of the curriculum. The object of this article is to explore student perceptions of internationalization across diverse course offerings within one school of the University of South Australia (UniSA). UniSA is notable in the Australian context as a university which from very early in its development enshrined internationalization among its seven ‘graduate qualities’. In this preliminary study, we explore the notions of internationalization of the curriculum as represented in the literature, describing the context for internationalization at UniSA before exploring student perceptions. Our data reveal that on the whole students appear to have a deep and integrated sense of internationalization of the curriculum which at times clashes with a less developed conceptualization defined by their course of study. From our study we are able to begin to define certain principles which foster internationalization of the curriculum and draw some challenging conclusions about its future in higher education.