Getting Unstuck with Internationalization at Home: Seizing the Post-pandemic Moment

Abstract

As I write this essay in late May 2020, the higher education press is blanketed by debate about the enduring changes brought on by COVID-19. Some maintain that the pandemic has already triggered disruptive changes, such as the quick move to online learning and variations in the academic calendar. They speculate that these shifts will endure after the crisis passes. Others predict a shift in the landscape of higher education. In countries with a private higher education sector that is highly dependent on tuition revenue, a substantial number may close, and the resulting landscape will be dominated by stronger, richer institutions. One estimate is that 20% of private institutions in the United States will close (Wescott 2020). Although changes precipitated by the pandemic have been largely reactive, many higher education observers see the crisis as presenting a window of opportunity for making lasting and fundamental changes long overdue in the academy. A minority view less visible in the press and undoubtedly less exciting and encouraging, highlights the inevitable pull of business as usual, that, over time, higher education will revert to old practices. Since it is not possible to predict the future, it is too early to know which scenario will dominate or if there will be some combination of the two. The future of internationalization is equally contested. Some, such as Philip Altbach and Hans De Wit (2020), see the inevitable pull of returning to the status quo ante and are sceptical that the move to online learning will endure, that mobility will cease to be an important option over the long-term, or that institutions will easily give up the revenue provided by international students. Indeed, they speculate that institutions may double down on the recruitment of international students, so important is the revenue they bring to the financial health (or viability) of the enterprise. A major question is whether the pandemic will provide a moment for Internationalization at Home to flourish given that mobility, which already involves only the privileged few, will be curtailed for the foreseeable future. Will this disruption of the status quo push institutions to redirect their attention to the academic and socio-cultural benefits of internationalization, rather than the economic benefits, and pay serious attention to Internationalization at Home? Although the past does not predict the future, it is useful to consider where internationalization was headed before the pandemic and the three important trends affecting the future of Internationalization at Home.