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1. Introduction
A whole-of-provider approach to international education is sometimes called internationalisation. The American Council on Education (ACE) defines comprehensive internationalisation, as “a strategic, coordinated process that seeks to align and integrate policies, programs, and initiatives to position colleges and universities as more globally oriented and internationally connected”. Encouraging internationalisation will promote international education as “mission critical” to institutions, rather than an optional “bolt-on”.
This module uses the ACE model, which is North American and focused on higher education, to explore internationalisation in the New Zealand context. The principles at the heart of the ACE model are also applicable to the school context, which is demonstrated by the New Zealand school examples in the sections below.
We will provide practical examples and case studies from New Zealand to illustrate how practitioners in this country might encourage institution-wide commitment to internationalisation. Internationalisation presents numerous opportunities for institutions to innovate their curriculum, support staff professional development, and align internal and external stakeholders. The benefits will be felt across your institution.
Internationalisation can feel like a huge undertaking, but remember that you don’t need to tackle every area at once. Consider both short-term quick wins and longer-term strategic development that might help your institution on this journey.
2. ACE model for comprehensive internationalisation
ACE has developed a useful model for internationalisation that can help institutions develop their own plan and decide where to place their attention and resources. The model is framed by three critical strategic lenses, with six interconnected target areas for internationalisation. While ACE focuses on higher education, the model is equally applicable to primary and secondary schools, and we include examples from institutions at all levels in New Zealand in this module.
The overarching strategic lenses are:
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Institutions should think beyond numerical diversity to ensure that students and employees of all backgrounds feel that their institution is equitable, welcoming, inclusive, and supportive.
- Agility & Transformation: Institutions should be willing and able to evolve their structures and practices in response to or, ideally, in anticipation of disruptive forces. This lens emphasises that internationalisation is not static, but an ongoing journey.
- Data-Informed Decision-Making: Institutions should plan internationalisation based on clear metrics and ongoing assessment and self-evaluation.
Institutions can use these three lenses to ensure their internationalisation efforts are future-focused and fit-for-purpose in the long-term.
Within these three strategic lenses, the ACE model has six target areas for internationalisation. Each theme will be explored in turn, giving New Zealand examples to illustrate some of the actions that practitioners may take at their own institutions.
3. Target Areas for Internationalisation
Institutional Commitment & Policy
ACE’s first target area for internationalisation is institutional commitment and policy. Internationalisation should be a priority in an institution's strategic plan, and leadership should explicitly commit to it. You should also consider provisions for iterative improvement, assessment, and implementation and how you will commit to organisational self-reflection.
New Zealand case study
The University of Otago’s Internationalisation Framework 2021-25 is one of the University’s key strategic documents that the institution says “will provide direction and impetus to recovery” following the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Framework sets the tone and direction for how Otago will engage globally. It provides critical context for investment and decision making across the University, allowing academic divisions to make decisions around programme development and delivery.
Otago’s Internationalisation Framework will also ensure that there is a collective understanding and focus and shared goals for international engagement and activity. The University says, “It will become a foundation document for the International Office, guide and inform its decision making, and provide direction around where to invest resources and time.”
The framework is structured into three pillars: Otago as a Global Citizen, Internationalisation of the Student Experience, and the Recruitment of International Student Talent. Each pillar has specific and measurable objectives, goals, and targets.
Leadership & Structure
Involving senior leaders and appropriate administrative and reporting structures in internationalisation will help ensure that the topic has broad buy-in and support across your institution. You might consider establishing a committee or task force that leads a whole-of-provider approach. It can also be helpful if your international leadership reports directly or at least regularly interacts with and advises the institution's top leadership.
Regardless of the structure you choose, it’s critical that your institution commits adequate human and financial resources to internalisation for it to be a success.
New Zealand case study
Oropi Primary School has implemented an intercultural strategy and short, medium and long term goals to bring that strategy to life. They have resourced a dedicated intercultural teacher within the school’s staffing structure to oversee the programme.
The Principal of Oropi Primary School Andrew King says, “As a school leader it’s critical I put systems and structures in place to enable teachers and intercultural teaching.”.
He says that if there wasn’t support for internationalisation from senior leadership, the programme would fall over. “I make it a priority,” he says.
“In the primary school system, schools don’t get resourced for teaching languages. I commit staffing, including release support staff, which requires funding from external sources. You have to be really networked and keep your eyes wide open to make connections locally, nationally and internationally. There is plenty of opportunity out there, but you have to look for it. Funding support for intercultural teaching doesn’t fall into your lap.”
Curriculum & Co-curriculum
An internationalised curriculum ensures that all students are exposed to international perspectives and that they can build global and intercultural competence at home regardless of their study focus. You could also consider:
- workforce-ready global competencies
- co-curricular programs and activities, where learners have opportunities to engage with culturally diverse individuals and organizations in the local community
- focus on foreign language, regional studies, global issues, and intentional opportunities for self-reflection, intercultural interaction, and identity exploration
- incorporating international perspectives and highlighting global issues into existing coursework, and
- technology to enhance global learning, such as collaborative international online learning (COIL), research partnerships, virtual exchange, guest speakers, or administrative collaboration.
At the secondary school level, the New Zealand Curriculum offers eight principles to guide schools’ decision making in curriculum development. Three of these principles - Cultural Diversity, Inclusion, and Future-Focused - align closely with the goals of internationalisation and may give schools ideas about ways to internationalise their curricula.
In particular, the cultural diversity principle calls for schools and teachers to deliver a curriculum that:
- reflects our linguistically and culturally diverse nation
- affirms students’ different cultural identities
- incorporates students' cultural contexts into teaching and learning programmes
- is responsive to diversity within ethnic groups, and
- helps students understand and respect diverse viewpoints, values, customs, and languages.
For secondary schools, aligning your curriculum with the Cultural Diversity principle will go a long way towards internationalising your curriculum. The New Zealand curriculum website has a number of videos and articles that explore ways that schools can bring the cultural diversity principle to life in the classroom. This could include:
- creating opportunities for all students to bring their valued knowledge into the school.
- incorporating students’ cultural contexts into teaching and learning programmes and into the classroom environment
- providing practical opportunities for all students to be proud and share their languages and cultures through cultural groups, special events, and school festivals that celebrated cultural difference, and
- developing school charters that celebrate diversity and represent all the cultures of their school community.
Global citizenship is also gaining increasing focus in school curricula, and the NZ Curriculum website has a number of resources under the Future focus principle that may help schools incorporate global citizenship across their curriculum.
New Zealand case study #1
Hutt International Boys’ School aims to provide each student with a programme of internationalisation aimed at developing, and enriching, their international awareness and perspective.
Students in Years 7 to 10 identify and designate compulsory internationalisation topics from the curriculum. This includes the studying of a minimum of one foreign language until the completion of Year 10.
In Years 11 to 13, the continued study of identified and designated topics from the curriculum, and involvement in internationally focused co-curricular activities, determines if the student will achieve his Graduation Certificate “with Internationalisation”. Students nominate the topics they will cover each year to contribute toward their Internationalisation total.
Students also have the opportunity to enter International English, Science, Computing, Language, Maths and Social Science competitions. The Arts regularly use and explore materials and techniques from around the world.
Throughout the year, all students are involved in activities to enhance their international knowledge and understanding. Seminars, guest speakers and essay competitions challenge student understanding and promote global respect. Participation in Model United Nations and Student Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is encouraged and supported with HIBS hosting its own Model United Nations. Language exchanges, hosting overseas students, international competitions, international service and individual projects all contribute towards “Graduation with Internationalisation”.
New Zealand case study #2
Victoria University of Wellington Business School has undertaken a stream of work, including a survey and a year-long Learning and Teaching Development funded project, exploring ways to develop learning goals relating to the development of cross-cultural and international perspectives. Their goal is to develop graduates who function effectively as leaders in global communities.
A survey of commerce students in 2010 revealed extensive cultural diversity in the student body, and a parallel survey of academic staff showed similarly high levels of cultural diversity. The Business School decided to recognise and use this existing diversity as a classroom resource.
They developed two key teaching and learning interventions: 1) creating a safe and inclusive learning community in first year tutorials, and 2) undertaking experiential learning activities in second and third year lectures. The newly created resources were stored in a central repository, from where they could be shared throughout the university.
Similarly, the University of Canterbury is also embedding international perspectives into their business curriculum with international case studies. An assignment for one course requires that students have at least one non-English source in the academic texts in their APA reference list. This requires students to work in groups and draws on the strengths of international and migrant students, who do not speak English as their first (or at least only) language.
4. Staff Support
A fourth area where a whole-of-provider approach can support internationalisation efforts is building institutional policies and support mechanisms to ensure that staff have opportunities to develop intercultural competence themselves. This will help maximise the impact of these experiences on student learning, research, and service.
Staff support might include:
- professional development
- opportunities for teachers/faculty to teach, conduct research, participate in virtual exchange and collaboration, and attend domestic and international conferences
- tenure and promotion policies that explicitly value international work and experience, and
- guidelines that include quantitative or qualitative targets for hiring people with international and diverse backgrounds.
New Zealand case study #1
Oropi Primary School describes and plans for their intercultural programme under the themes “learn with, learn from, and learn about”.
Under the “learn from” theme, a lead teacher oversees language instruction in Mandarin, Spanish and Māori. The school supports the teachers’ own language acquisition through professional learning development, as most teachers are not fluent in the languages they are teaching. In addition, the school supports them to learn more about how to teach languages, through the task-based language learning training offered at the University of Auckland.
The school also makes sure that when languages are being taught, the class teacher can remain in the classroom, so they are also part of the learning experience. Before Covid-19, the school also offered teachers diverse opportunities to learn offshore.
New Zealand case study #2
One of the key themes in the Massey University Internationalisation Framework 2017-2025 is “staff internationalisation”. The intended impact is that Massey University staff are actively engaged in international activities. They measure this impact through the number of international staff and the number of staff active in internationalisation activities.
These guidelines will presumably incentivise the hiring of international staff and encourage staff to undertake more internationalisation work.
Mobility
Mobility is perhaps the area that practitioners might intuitively think of when they are considering internationalisation. However, the pandemic has forced the sector to think creatively about what they mean by ‘mobility’ to include activities other than actual travel to other countries. For example, collaborative online international learning (COIL) or virtual exchange; research cooperation; faculty and staff exchanges or expertise shared virtually; internship and service experiences; and virtual partnerships are all now considered valuable mobility options.
Other aspects of this target area that you may want to consider are:
- ensuring equitable and inclusive services for students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds
- integrating international students fully into campus life, including an appreciation for our bicultural heritage and commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi
- providing comprehensive orientation and re-entry programmes, and
- exercising care with quality assurance, such as ensuring due diligence in online test-taking.
New Zealand case study
Mobility is often considered by institutions as primarily an inbound exercise, but providing opportunities for domestic students to study and do research abroad is equally as important in internationalising an institution.
The University of Otago’s Internationalisation Framework provides opportunities for Otago students to have an international mobility opportunity as part of their programme of studies, an important part of the University’s commitment to the internationalisation of the student experience.
The university has set specific targets for outbound students, and they are developing a series of pilot internship programmes. They are also considering how technology can be better used to connect their students with students from partner institutions to interact and collaborate virtually.
The University of Otago is also taking steps to ensure that the international students they host appreciate what makes Aotearoa New Zealand and the University of Otago unique, especially as it relates to biculturalism. In conjunction with the Office of Māori Development, the university is developing an induction to Aotearoa New Zealand, which will be provided to all commencing international students.
Partnerships and Networks
Institutions can use partnerships and networks to bring together and act on different viewpoints, resources, and activities on global issues. Partnerships could include institutions, governments and communities abroad or locally, as well as internal networks within the institution.
Organisations, governments, and individuals in the local community often have deep international or cross-cultural connections, backgrounds, and knowledge. They can provide research partners and experiential learning opportunities for students. Institutions could also partner with immigrant and former refugee communities, ethnically and racially diverse sub-communities, civic organizations, and globally connected businesses.
In New Zealand, partnerships with Māori are critical to give expression to the Te Tiriti relationship. Institutions should recognise that Māori are key actors in regional social, environmental, and economic development and respond to the needs of, and improve outcomes for, Māori ākonga, whanau, hapū, iwi, and employers.
Institutions should also not overlook the importance of internal networks for internationalisation. Individuals and teams may have knowledge, skills, experience and relationships to contribute. Involving as many different areas of the institution as possible is important.
New Zealand case study
Te Pūkenga’s International Strategy has five key areas of focus, which emphasise the importance of partnerships:
- creating and supporting skilled and culturally competent global ākonga
- adding significant value to the Aotearoa New Zealand community
- aligning learning outcomes to the needs of employers
- creating valuable strategic partnerships within and outside of Aotearoa New Zealand, and
- giving expression to our Te Tiriti relationship that exists between the Crown and Māori to improve outcomes for Māori through delivering partnership, protection, participation, and equity.
One of Te Pūkenga’s goals is to be internationally recognised as the preferred partner institution by governments, employers, education institutions, Te Tiriti o Waitangi partners, ākonga and communities. They are working to develop strategic partnerships where Te Pūkenga is recognised and valued for the unique contribution that they can bring to the relationship, and where there is mutual benefit in achieving social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes.
They will focus on developing long-term strategic relationships with targeted countries, education and training providers and employers that allow for flexibility and future-focused programme development. They are also moving from institutional-level engagement to country-level engagement, so that Te Pūkenga has the presence to engage in international and regional forums and participate at a “higher level” than they have historically.
5. Conclusion
This product has illustrated some of the ways that institutions in New Zealand are approaching internationalisation, so that it is seen as an institution-wide approach that is central to the educational goals.
There are many ways this can be achieved. Some of the approaches that have been presented here include:
- internationalising institutional policies and practices
- embedding global citizenship and internationalisation across the curriculum
- ensuring domestic students have opportunities to participate in international education, both in New Zealand and overseas
- supporting staff to develop their own intercultural competency, and
- establishing strategic partnerships that recognise your institution’s unique strengths and contributions.
Internationalisation is a journey, and practitioners should find ‘quick wins’ as well as longer-term strategic goals. The result will not only benefit the international education programme, but students, staff, and the institution as a whole.
6. References and Resources
American Council on Education (2022). Comprehensive Internationalisation. https://www.acenet.edu/Research-Insights/Pages/Internationalization/Comprehensive-Internationalization.aspx
Massey University (2017). Internationalisation Framework 2017-2025. https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/International%20Students/Documents/Massey-University-Internationalisation-Framework-2017-to-2025.pdf?A21102473736E2E58014684394D3682F
Ministry of Education (2022). The New Zealand Curriculum: Principles. https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Principles
University of Otago (2021). Te Aka Whakaranea ā-Ao: 2021-25 Internationalisation Framework. https://www.otago.ac.nz/otago829857.pdf
