Internationalization and Quality

Professor Luciane Stallivieri from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) is deeply engaged in debates on Higher Education internationalization in Brazil and Latin America. As a researcher at the Institute of Studies and Research in University Administration (Inpeau) at UFSC, she conducts various studies and diagnostic work aimed at enhancing the quality of Education through internationalization. In a remote interview with the Newsletter, she explores the connections between quality, evaluation, and internationalization in the global south. Below are excerpts from the conversation:

 

Why is it so difficult to define quality in higher education and what are the consequences of this for evaluation models?

Luciane Stallivieri: Firstly, because quality is a subjective and dynamic concept, depending on the perception and expectations of those who evaluate it. Within a higher education institution, for example, the interpretation of quality varies among students, administrators, faculty, and employers. However, there are fundamental pillars that help establish clear criteria for evaluation, according to international literature.

Firstly, quality must be intentional and in line with established vision and purposes. Secondly, it must achieve exceptional distinction or excellence and deliver measurable value through indicators and monitoring mechanisms. Thirdly, it must be transformative, in the sense of being an education that brings about positive changes for all those involved in the process, from students to the local community and the region of the world in which it is located. Finally, it must be accountable for the resources it consumes to all these stakeholders, delivering solutions to the most important issues faced by society.

 

What sets a world-class university apart from others?

Luciane Stallivieri: A world-class university needs to have excellent outcomes, collaborating both for global research and academic quality worldwide, as well as being a driver of development in its region and country, thus fulfilling its social responsibility. Additionally, it needs to attract talented individuals from all over the world, including students, faculty, researchers, and administrators. It should also present innovative solutions to the most pressing global issues. However, all of this depends on the existence of efficient governance mechanisms, adequate financial resources and infrastructure, as well as talents and human capital to sustain such outcomes. Without consistent investment in these areas, aspiring to be a world-class university becomes more challenging.

 

How can the internationalization process contribute to the quality performance of universities in the global south in rankings and international assessments?

Luciane Stallivieri: Internationalization opens the doors of the university to recognition beyond its own walls and borders. Quality in research, for example, depends on interaction and collaboration among researchers from different countries through partnerships and strategic alliances, facilitated by the internationalization process. Through these, it is possible to enhance the quality of research, the volume of scientific production, its impact, socialization, and the scope of the knowledge produced.

I see the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) model as an excellent opportunity for internationalization for universities in the global south, as it facilitates the visibility of the excellence of knowledge produced in the region, as well as the integration of institutions and researchers, faculty, and staff into international networks that will begin to see the continent as a space of excellence too. All of this increases the demand for knowledge production and the institution’s commitment to quality, reinforcing that the university needs to be prepared when embarking on this direction.

To seize this opportunity brought by the virtualization of internationalization, however, it is necessary to be able to communicate in the most spoken languages in the international community (English, Chinese, Spanish) and to possess digital competence for technology-mediated interaction, which also needs to be widely available.

 

What are the most striking differences between world-class universities located in the global south and their counterparts in the north?

Luciane Stallivieri: We have a privileged space for education in Latin America, but we need to be more proactive. To do this, we need to overcome some barriers. Among them is the issue of delayed access to knowledge produced in centers of excellence, as the results of cutting-edge research are published first in other countries and languages. Not everyone has the same ease of access. Additionally, we have difficulty in receiving international students for a series of infrastructure-related reasons, especially. Our campuses lack adequate and sufficient accommodations for the international community, as well as permanent investments in laboratories and other essential equipment for excellent teaching and research.

Private universities, which comprise the majority of higher education institutions in Latin America, with the largest number of enrollments, are also less internationalized and have not yet developed a culture of attracting international resources, which is fundamental in this process. A relatively simple way to start this journey is to set up a fundraising unit at the university to monitor calls worldwide, which can be located in the internationalization department. If the university has good projects to present, it will certainly be able to attract resources through this means and use them as a lever for the internationalization process and for quality assurance.

 

How do institutional evaluations by governments and funding agencies relate to rankings consulted by parents, students, and society when addressing the quality of universities?

Luciane Stallivieri: There is not necessarily a conversation between them due to different objectives and characteristics. In Brazil, we have an exemplary evaluation model in graduate education, which would need to intersect with other models used by other systems. This interaction would certainly benefit the entire evaluation systems due to the inductive role of these instruments.

Rankings, on the other hand, have a different purpose and generally have a narrower focus limited to quantifiable data. From the internationalization perspective, evaluations made by the most important rankings began to include the topic in their data collection only from 2010 onwards, and even then, they disregard the learning outcomes that are central to the benefits obtained from internationalization. A conversation between rankings and various institutional evaluation systems could be beneficial due to their differences for the improvement of both types of instruments.

 

What are the challenges and opportunities for Brazilian and Latin American universities in the global class in this context?

Luciane Stallivieri: There has never been such access to qualified information, to the greatest world authorities on the most diverse topics. Digitalization has allowed broad and immediate contact with quality knowledge, which in itself is a huge opportunity for the region. The search for alliances and partnerships has also been greatly facilitated by this phenomenon, requiring only good projects to compete for and access resources available beyond their geographic borders.

There are also, however, significant challenges such as the need to manage and capacitate for the internationalization process, understanding that it is a means to seek excellence and quality, never an end. Many institutions are unaware of ongoing international teaching, research, and extension activities within their own institution. Knowledge and information management is the first step. It is necessary to know in detail all the interactions underway within the university, providing qualified and accurate data to managers, rankings, and institutional evaluation systems.

Additionally, investment in research, as well as the increase in visibility and impact of produced knowledge, is crucial, and involves publishing in other languages: in English and also Chinese and other Asian languages, for example. The partnership between Latin American countries in research and teaching, taking advantage of our similar context, including in terms of the challenges faced by our societies, is fundamental to strengthen the Latin American higher education space and increase our presence in the global context of excellence in teaching and research.

 

What is the importance of national and regional policies supporting internationalization in promoting the quality of the Higher Education system?

Luciane Stallivieri: There is a lack of national (in Brazil) and regional (in Latin America) policies that guide this process and offer clear guidelines for institutions seeking internationalization. Without this, the systemic impact of the process is lost. This guidance is essential not only at the higher level but also in Basic Education. Even more so in countries with a highly complex system like Brazil. Just to give an example, in Brazil, there are approximately 2600 HEIs; in Australia, there are about 42 universities.

A country with a system of this size and complexity requires even more internationalization policies. At the very least, there should be discussions about a guiding document with concepts, direction, and minimum elements of an internationalization process, such as those of Colombia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, for example.

Of course, it is not possible or desirable to rigidly standardize institutions into a single model, especially because the best internationalization strategy depends on the particular characteristics of each university such as location, vocation, areas of excellence, among others. But all universities can benefit from policy guidance when making their individual decisions and investing in this process.

 

How can HEIs appropriate the proposal and tools of curriculum internationalization available in their institutional policies? How to support and encourage teachers’ adherence to this process?

Luciane Stallivieri: I’ll start with the second question, bringing studies from the International Association of Universities (IAU) in Europe. The IAU, for example, points out that the greatest obstacle to internationalization is the difficulty of getting teachers to adhere to the process. It is evident that we need to work strongly with faculty in a systematic and structured way. And this begins with institutional mechanisms such as the Plan and the Strategic Planning of Internationalization, properly linked to quantifiable objectives. At the core of these instruments, actions for teachers must be contemplated, such as productivity scholarships for international collaboration, awareness-raising seminars, and training on the subject, among others.

The university’s Internationalization department must orchestrate all of this, functioning not just as an additional department in the institution but as the driver of a behavior throughout the academic community. There is no single formula for internationalization. Each HEI needs to seek its own model, breaking with the attitude that still exists today in Latin America that we are passive regarding internationalization. The lack of guiding national and regional documents can be supplemented by reading and using materials on Higher Education internationalization produced periodically by the OECD, the World Bank, and UNESCO, among other international organizations that focus on the issue. These are sources of inspiration that can serve as guiding bases for the production and development of Latin American and Brazilian internationalization models.

Leia Mais Veja todas