Understanding the Internationalization of Turkish Higher Education through Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores discourses on and around internationalization as a reflection of the contemporary development of Turkish higher education. It analyses policy documents published by the Council of Higher Education (henceforth the CoHE), academic and media articles over ten years. By examining these texts through a combination of policy framing analysis and (critical) discourse analysis, the study explores how discourses on and around internationalization are framed by policy-makers, academics and media commentators. The study concludes that policy-makers’, academics’ and media commentators’ understanding of internationalization is not solidified into a clear-cut and homogeneous definition and that internationalization is often quantified with references to student and academic numbers. In fact, the discourses on/around internationalization reflect aspects of global trends towards the marketization of higher education and significantly of Turkey's economy policies.