Designing and Engaging Support for Comprehensive Internationalisation: Case Studies from the University of Kent to Share Good Practice with Institutions in Uzbekistan

Abstract

Internationalisation of Higher Education is of key significance to universities across the globe. However, given the many ways in which comprehensive internationalisation can be manifested, challenges and opportunities can be found in encouraging and engaging staff and students, with a range of ventures which could potentially support and advance internationally-focused and meaningful activity and impact. Given global engagement with international Higher Education, it is also notable that alternative challenges and solutions emerge in different regions of the world, often through collaborative transnational education, and this can offer institutions and globally-minded academics opportunities, in line with accepted principles of knowledge diplomacy.Since internationalisation is a term which has different connotations for the various individuals and departments within any given institution, it is important to approach internationalisation activity with a clear strategy in mind. This paper presents a series of case studies which focus on the strategy, activities and projects devised by a University in the UK in order to support academic internationalisation in Higher Education. These examples are then considered in the context of transnational education with a particular focus on Uzbekistan. Examples are presented not in an attempt to suggest they offer perfect solutions from the West but rather in the ‘Silk Road’ spirit of internationalisation, to share good practice and to add to that knowledge through the experiences of others. This was very much the context at the ‘Internationalization and Innovation in Higher Education’ conference, jointly run by Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) and the University of Westminster in the UK (WIUT, 2018), where the author delivered a paper on this same topic.