L&T Framework: Internationalisation

Why create shared frameworks?

As a global education provider, Navitas has developed considerable expertise in a range of specialisations to support delivery of high quality education. Learning and Teaching Services leads the development of frameworks to identify examples of this good practice and connect it with evidence from the research as well as our own discipline expertise in learning and teaching. These frameworks can be used to provide principles for good practice, guide enhancement and innovation, ensure consistency and inform policy.

Internationalisation in contemporary education

Today’s students are faced with a combination of global connectivity and mobility, mixed with nationalism, populism and sometimes a lack of trust.

Now, it is especially the case that all students need an internationalised curriculum, that is ‘the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments’ (Jos Beelen & Elspeth Jones, 2015).

Key principles

Drawing on good practice in the area of internationalisation in education, diversity of thought and perspectives, and on Navitas’ own values, the internationalisation framework is based on the following principles:

  • Internationalisation is promoted as a key part of the Navitas experience for all students;
  • Learning environments are inclusive and, through effective cross cultural interaction and collaboration, are places where teachers and students understand and use culturally diverse perspectives to build global outlooks;
  • Intercultural competencies are embedded in the curriculum and in teacher capability and professional development.

It’s important to clearly define what internationalisation is and what it is not. It is not just optional experience for some students on exchange trips; it’s not just recruiting international students; it isn’t about adapting a curriculum to be taught offshore (this is localisation, not internationalisation); it’s not the homogenisation of a global curriculum that privileges hegemonic knowledge; and it’s much more than just the content of the curriculum.

Ideally, it is a product that encompasses curriculum, learning outcomes, assessment tasks, learning and teaching activities, pedagogical methods, and support services, that engages students with internationally informed research, promotes cultural and linguistic diversity and purposefully develops international and intercultural perspectives as global professionals and citizens.

Exploring the internationalisation framework

Below, you can click to explore more about the elements involved in internationalising the student experience:

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The framework was presented at the 2017 Australian International Education Conference, where this handy graphic recording was created to visually summarise the Navitas Internationalisation Framework:

 

To get the latest iteration of the Navitas Internationalisation Framework, or if you’re interested in an institutional-wide approach to internationalisation, contact learningandteaching@navitas.com.