Critical Intercultural Perspectives on Higher Education

Book excerpt: This edited volume interrogates the meanings of internationalization in higher education in different political-economic contexts. Written by multidisciplinary scholars based in different parts of the world (China, Finland, France, Korea, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, UK, USA), the chapters allow the reader to critically ‘listen in’ on glocalized (global + local) discourses of internationalization in education (meanings, epistemologies, critiques and current research/policies). The volume aims to support students and scholars in clarifying for themselves and others what internationalization might mean and entail, using alternative ways of characterizing, critiquing and unsettling internationalization. The authors adopt critical intercultural perspectives in their chapters, based, for example, on humanistic entry points, the continuum of ideological specificities-commonalities, while balancing self-other (acceptance, rejection), questioning the 'taken for granted' and offering some decolonial analyses and reflections. The volume thus aims to better understand and nuance the polysemic and glocalized nature of internationalization in order to strengthen international cooperation in education (research) and to provide more opportunities to come together to recognize and support, for example, multiple perspectives, experiences and knowledge. Scholars, students and education professionals interested in higher education, intercultural studies and topics of internationalization and globalization will greatly benefit from the book.