Internationalization of Higher Education in Post-Soviet Small States: Realities and Perspectives of Moldova

Abstract

Internationalization of higher education has become a priority for many universities in post-Soviet small states. Focusing on international communication networks, student mobility, or international curriculum development, universities invest human and financial resources to prepare graduates to meet global challenges. Globalization and post-Soviet independence have promoted emerging patterns of international education strategies and new approaches to managing international activities. This study explores current trends of university internationalization in post-Soviet Moldova as understood and interpreted by Moldova state universities' administrators. International Relations Department officials who are responsible for the design and implementation of international education programs discuss their perceptions of post-Soviet small state international outreach strategies, smallness and marginalization, and the unique aspects of academic internationalization in Moldova. Respondents' diverse internationalization techniques and expectations illustrate the importance of academic dialogue with post-USSR small states and raise possible standards for international collaboration with Eastern and Southern European universities. Higher Education and Global Developments Mental , but' s plan. Changes take decades, if not centuries. If the inheritance of the Roman Empire still separates Belgium from the Netherlands, two countries in intimate contact for over 2000 years, one should not believe one can change the minds of Serbs, Russians or Albanians within a few years…we better take mental programmes as given facts. (Hofstede, 2001, p. 11) Irrespective of their economic development and political inclinations, the post-Soviet small states are experiencing an increasing demand for access to higher education. This is partly because such states have entered into " an accelerated process of multidimensional global changes encompassing the fields of economy, finance, science and technology, communication, culture, politics and education " (Gacel-Avila, 2005, p. 123). University graduates in Chisinau, Riga or Vilnius are expected to adequately react to these changes by meeting the demands of globalization. As a result, post-Soviet small states universities are " not immune from global-minded preoccupations " (Altbach, 2002, p. 27). Internationalization of curricula, growing student and faculty mobility, academic exchanges and research joint ventures, play an important part in the current life of local higher academic institutions. Western universities offer post-Soviet small states universities different opportunities for knowledge exchange and sharing. Small states universities in their turn explore opportunities and try to reconsider their internationalization mission, tasks and responsibilities in the context of new academic collaborative priorities.