Vice-Chancellor’s Foreword

"Education begins with knowledge of another culture..."

Professor Lord Acton

"Isolation is not an answer, and never can be ..."

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, 1996

The visit by the Internationalisation Strategy Panel was a great success, both in capturing ideas for the future enhancement of our global relations, and also through its interaction with staff and students (in lectures, seminars and focus groups).

From that lively academic process has come this Discussion Paper — not so much a formal review, but rather a document of challenge to all of us in the University to take up the issue of internationalisation in every aspect of our work at UWA.

The Paper sets out the scope of the challenge to ensure the kind of transformation necessary to ensure that we are truly an international university; and, ultimately, providing the basis for UWA as a significant internationally recognised university within 50 years.

Internationalisation will be critical for UWA's success and standing in an increasingly globalised research and development environment. The rationale for internationalisation lies in a university’s fundamental responsibility to prepare its graduates to be active and critical participants in society. In addition, higher education and research training is now one of the great global ‘industries’, worth billions of dollars annually. There is huge opportunity for UWA in being part of that process and need. Moreover, by ensuring that UWA is integrally part of a network of learning which is global, it draws our society into stronger linkages with other nations and cultures. As such, ‘internationalisation’ will also fundamentally shape the nature of our graduates and their careers. A capacity to draw from an educative experience suffused with international dimensions will be a significant vocational ability and value for our graduates in the work place of the next century.

As one member of the panel succinctly put it: a good education means an ability to achieve an excellent level of 'cultural arithmetic', but an international education leads on to 'cultural calculus'. UWA graduates should be citizens of the globe.

Professor Deryck M. Schreuder

October 1999

Internationalisation Strategy Panel Membership

The following Panel Members took part on Campus:

Terms of Reference

Universities generate, promote, utilise and transmit knowledge. Knowledge is international in its essence. It knows no borders, no boundaries. It is timeless and is the universal language of all who would seek wisdom. Universities are therefore international in their core function. Great universities acknowledge and cultivate their international foundations. Great universities are international universities.

Internationalisation has many dimensions: the materials which are studied; the courses which are offered; the students who are taught; the staff who teach them and undertake research; the places where teaching takes place; the environment and context within which teaching and research is undertaken. Above all, internationalisation is a state of mind.

Since its establishment in 1911 the University has striven to develop and maintain an international quality focus. This is reflected in the University's mission and motto of ‘Seek Wisdom’.

As the new millennium approaches, Australian universities face a dilemma. On the one hand, there is Commonwealth Government pressure to develop into mass training institutions to serve national needs. But, on the other hand, global pressures exist (partly based on rapidly developing technologies) to operate at an international level. The research-intensive universities are therefore examining ways in which they can deepen their international focus. This is the context for the current strategic review.

1. To evaluate the current degree of internationalisation within the University and the current mechanisms for achieving this.
2. To suggest strategies for the University to enhance its internationalisation.

By ‘internationalisation’, the University means achieving an international focus in all its activities.

In strategic terms, ‘internationalisation’ is the policy response of UWA to the process of globalisation.

1. Context

A changing world increasingly involves a changing Australia. Higher education, research and training have all become central to the shaping of a knowledge-based society and to citizenship in that society. The universities have the potential to be critical powerhouses for their communities in finding opportunity in global competitiveness and challenge. To achieve this mission, universities are required to engage in the transformative process of "internationalisation".

1.1 The Global Environment

The winds of change are now global in their power. Australia increasingly lives in an interdependent world that takes no account of its "island-continent" status. The globalisation of markets and finance, the new modes of knowledge production and innovation, and the general revolution in communications and cultural permutations, all suggest a new era in modern history.

For a small society (with roughly the population of the Netherlands) Australia has made remarkable strides to sustain its place in the OECD list of developed nations. But the terms of its position are becoming harder each year. Not only does this apply to trade and investment, but it critically involves the generation of the intellectual property which will power the industries of the future. Some 98% of the world's basic scientific research is already done outside Australia, and a similar proportion of global innovation happens elsewhere. Moreover, the base of our export economy is shifting from commodities to key services which rely on sophisticated skills and complex understandings.

The balance of the world's nations is also shifting. Within two generations China's economy is projected to surpass that of Europe and the USA. A global population of 1.6 billion at 1900 is over 6 billion at 2000, with two nations (China and India) each having populations over 1 billion. How can Australia retain its standing in such a world without a highly successful international engagement?

The road to that internationalised future runs directly through the campuses of our best research and teaching universities. The range of research done in our Australian universities forms a critical link to global discovery and innovation. The broad educational and graduate training provided by leading universities has become critical in developing the professional groups who alone can ensure that Australia successfully absorbs the challenge of "internationalisation". A highly skilled society of life-long learners will be vital.

In the age of globalisation, a highly educated population is a nation’s ultimate wealth. As stated in the IBM White Paper on Living in The Information Society, "a highly educated population is seen as the key to economic growth and a stable society".

1.2 Changing Missions

The mission of the best of modern universities is changing around the theme of internationalisation.

UWA is necessarily part of this process of fundamental change and has begun to recognise the new era in higher education through a strengthening of its existing international activities, the development of its research, teaching and community programs and the maturation of its culture.

As currently defined, the primary mission of UWA is:

To advance, transmit and sustain knowledge and understanding, through the conduct of teaching, research and scholarship at the highest international standards, for the benefit of the international and national communities and the state of Western Australia.

Central to this mission is the phrase "at the highest international standards", which sets the fundamental benchmark by which the University wishes to be judged and by which it judges its own activities.

This commitment to international standards is reiterated in the recently formulated Operational Priorities Plan, Achieving International Excellence. That plan sees a "commitment to quality within an international focus" as the over-arching context for achieving international excellence, and pervasive of all the University's activities. The ideas in this paper reflect the objectives and strategies articulated in the OPP.

If The University of Western Australia is to attain international excellence, it must operate internationally, and it must take an international perspective to all of its activities.

Just how these goals are to be reached is likely significantly to shape the immediate policies of the University, and thereby shape the UWA of the 21st Century. Ensuring that they are achieved, in ways which lead to effective strategies that allow UWA to attain its vision, has been the primary objective of this Internationalisation Strategy Panel.

The Discussion Paper which follows has been prepared in order to provide the relevant University bodies with the issues (and the information*) to focus on the development of an Internationalisation Strategy for all aspects of the operation of UWA.

* See appendices.

1.3 What is Internationalisation?

A useful definition of "internationalisation", derived from the recent writings of Jane Knight and Hugo de Wit, is: "the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service of an institution".

• Teaching: internationalisation involves the development of inclusive and international curricula to ensure that the University's graduates have the skills and cultural understanding to operate in an international environment. This entails:

  • an inclusive curriculum which acknowledges, respects and responds appropriately to student diversity and incorporates an international dimension appropriate to each discipline
  • increased numbers of students from the University undertaking study periods overseas
  • a strong commitment to the international student program, including the effective incorporation of international students into the campus environment
  • support for offshore programs involving international outreach
  • collaborative teaching programs with overseas universities
  • formal agreements with third world countries/international organisations on education, training and exchange.

• Research: internationalisation assumes the conduct of research which has international impact. This includes collaborating on projects and publications with overseas institutions, attracting postgraduate research students and postdoctoral fellows from top-ranking overseas institutions, attracting distinguished visitors of international repute, maximising the use of study leave to include periods at overseas universities, editing and publishing journals and monographs of international significance and promoting international joint research and development projects with government partners.

• Service: internationalisation involves being an effective and active member of the international community of scholars and scholarly institutions, and includes providing appropriate support to international students, as well as offering assistance to universities in developing countries in the Asian and Indian Ocean regions.

• Best practice: To achieve these international standards in teaching, research and community service, the University needs to ensure that its management, administration and policies are themselves "international best practice", and that they assist the achievement of the University's objectives.

  Consequently, the University must encourage the international acculturation of all its staff and the University environment, effectively managing links with overseas institutions, including benchmarking agreements and student exchange programs, and develop the role of the International Centre in conjunction with University and faculty goals.

  Internationalisation must be embedded in all University planning, and mechanisms should be developed to promote the University in the international environment through alumni and the use of the Web, electronic and other international networks.

1.4 How far is UWA Internationalised?

Within the Australian higher education sector, in addition to having standards of excellence confirmed by national quality assurance programmes, UWA is already moving towards an internationalised future.

Key indicators:

• Overseas students comprise 12% of total load (among the highest in the G08)
• 42% of staff obtained their highest qualification overseas, (compared to a national average of 30.6%)
• UWA (along with ANU) has more publications with an international collaborator than any other Australian university
• Staff mobility is encouraged through generous study leave provisions.
• The University has an extensive range of collaborative and exchange agreements with overseas institutions
• Over 60 nationalities are represented among staff

Appendices 1 - 4

Nonetheless, given the challenge of the new era, these existing achievements need to be greatly enhanced. There is still considerable development open to UWA in pursuing and embedding internationalisation in all its activities and growth.

2. Towards Internationalisation: Making it Happen

The process of review and strategic planning has identified two critical paths towards internationalisation at UWA: structural factors and cultural issues. Whilst they reinforce each other in having the same overall directional thrust, they can be described separately.

2.1 Structural Change

A very strong case now exists both to reshape and to expand the institutional mechanisms by which the University can achieve its goals

• The appointment of a Senior Academic (International), being a specialist to drive and oversight the overall internationalisation polices at UWA. This key Senior Academic will report directly to the Vice-Chancellor and be the interface between the Vice-Chancellor, the International Office and the faculties. The appointment will be funded for the first three years from the Vice-Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund. A detailed set of responsibilities will be prepared.

• The establishment of a high-level Internationalisation Committee, chaired (in the first instance) by the
  Vice-Chancellor and including: the Executive Deans, Chair of Board, appropriate professional staff and, of course, the new Senior Academic (International). The Committee will report, through the Vice-Chancellor, to the Planning and Budget Committee

• The redevelopment of the International Centre, with corresponding developments in the faculty offices.

2.2 Educational enhancements: the Cultural Challenge

The ultimate object of an international policy being educational, and focussed on graduate outcomes and research capacity, a fundamental process of cultural transformation is involved. That evolutionary process will necessarily involve all aspects of the University and its mission, but with very specific initiatives:

• Inclusivity in teaching and learning

• Foreign Languages Policy

• Study Abroad

• Academic leave and exchanges

• International students at UWA

• The Postgraduate Research School (projected)

• International research linkages and funding

• The Institute of Advanced Studies

• Performance and best practice

• Equity, multi-culturalism and development

• Issues of Structural Change are being dealt with through the University’s consideration and implementation of the Fell Report (Appendix 5). This Report is the outcome of the University's Review of Marketing and Recruitment of International Students, conducted in February 1999, which recommended future directions for the University's international recruitment program.

• Issues involving Educational Enhancement are set out in the form of a series of challenges in the following section and are referred to appropriate University fora and committees for development and incorporation into UWA practices. The University’s Management Plan for Internationalisation details the University’s current approach to these issues (Appendix 6).

3. Developing an Operational Process
Educational Enhancements : The Cultural Challenges

Conclusion

Internationalisation at UWA will only be effective when it becomes a mode of thinking and action which suffuses all sections of the University. To that end the commitment of staff at all levels to this goal is crucial. It is hoped that the discussion of this paper in a variety of fora will ensure that all members of the University community have the opportunity to shape and be a part of our international future.

A changing and globalised work environment will increasingly impact on the University. The challenge exists as to whether UWA will simply ride with the tide or whether it will chart its own international future. That challenge exists at the level of its educational programs, research capacity and institutional performance.

UWA is poised at a critical point when it can be proactive in its internationalisationing policies and functions, making them a key feature of its traditional values of excellence.

Bibliography

Internationalisation and Higher Education: Goals and Strategies, K Back, D Advis, A Olsen (Evaluation and Investigation Program, DEETYA, 1996)

Unistats 1994 — 1998, UWA Statistics Office

Strategic plans from other universities

Connecting with the World (Priorities for Canadian Internationalism in the 21^st Century), a report by the International Development Research and Policy Task Force, Strong Maurice F (Chair), November 1996.

Turning the Forces of Globalization to our Advantage: An International Learning Strategy for Canada, prepared by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada et al, October 1998.

"Socrates", the European Community action program, the European Commission Directorate-General

The International Study Centre at Herstmonceux, East Sussex, UK, Profile, 1999/2000.

Languages and Literacy at the University of Western Australia, Report of the Languages Policy Working Party, October 1996.

Living in The Information Society: Transforming Higher Education, IBM White Paper, 1999.

Appendices