An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the past decades, the development of the internationalisation of higher education has revised the conceptual framework of higher education, enhanced its scope, scale and importance, and transformed its world, as well as reshaping relationships between countries. More powerful universities play...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana 2014-06-01
Series:Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/205
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850168709957550080
author Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu
author_facet Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu
author_sort Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu
collection DOAJ
description Over the past decades, the development of the internationalisation of higher education has revised the conceptual framework of higher education, enhanced its scope, scale and importance, and transformed its world, as well as reshaping relationships between countries. More powerful universities play a central role and are suppliers of knowledge, whereas weaker institutions and systems with fewer resources and lower academic standards occupy a peripheral position and are consumers. The centre-periphery dichotomy in the internationalisation of higher education undoubtedly presents considerable challenges to the higher education institutions of the peripheries. For developing regions like Africa, higher education is an important instrument for socioeconomic development, and one of the strategies to improve and qualify higher education is internationalisation. In spite of various attempts to enhance the benefits of internationalisation, African higher education has continued to be peripheral, with relationships remaining asymmetrical, unethical and unequal. Along with some positive benefits, internationalisation has brought complicated implications and new challenges, such as the brain drain, cultural values, the commodification of higher education, the persistence of inequality between global north-south universities, and so on. The purpose of the present paper is to highlight the challenges and unintended consequences of the internationalisation of higher education, with a particular focus on Africa.
format Article
id doaj-art-a0d64c658238428e8f43a0792210d2e8
institution OA Journals
issn 1855-9719
2232-2647
language English
publishDate 2014-06-01
publisher University of Ljubljana
record_format Article
series Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
spelling doaj-art-a0d64c658238428e8f43a0792210d2e82025-08-20T02:20:54ZengUniversity of LjubljanaCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal1855-97192232-26472014-06-0142An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan AfricaSintayehu Kassaye AlemuOver the past decades, the development of the internationalisation of higher education has revised the conceptual framework of higher education, enhanced its scope, scale and importance, and transformed its world, as well as reshaping relationships between countries. More powerful universities play a central role and are suppliers of knowledge, whereas weaker institutions and systems with fewer resources and lower academic standards occupy a peripheral position and are consumers. The centre-periphery dichotomy in the internationalisation of higher education undoubtedly presents considerable challenges to the higher education institutions of the peripheries. For developing regions like Africa, higher education is an important instrument for socioeconomic development, and one of the strategies to improve and qualify higher education is internationalisation. In spite of various attempts to enhance the benefits of internationalisation, African higher education has continued to be peripheral, with relationships remaining asymmetrical, unethical and unequal. Along with some positive benefits, internationalisation has brought complicated implications and new challenges, such as the brain drain, cultural values, the commodification of higher education, the persistence of inequality between global north-south universities, and so on. The purpose of the present paper is to highlight the challenges and unintended consequences of the internationalisation of higher education, with a particular focus on Africa.https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/205higher educationinternationalisationcentreperipherychallengesSub-Saharan Africa
spellingShingle Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu
An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
higher education
internationalisation
centre
periphery
challenges
Sub-Saharan Africa
title An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort appraisal of the internationalisation of higher education in sub saharan africa
topic higher education
internationalisation
centre
periphery
challenges
Sub-Saharan Africa
url https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/205
work_keys_str_mv AT sintayehukassayealemu anappraisaloftheinternationalisationofhighereducationinsubsaharanafrica
AT sintayehukassayealemu appraisaloftheinternationalisationofhighereducationinsubsaharanafrica