شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

The landscape of tertiary education globally has changed significantly over the years and continues to change. The internationalization of tertiary education has been defined as the intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful contribution to society. Internationalization can take several forms, such as student and staff mobility (inbound and outbound), academic joint ventures (joint degrees), partnerships (cooperation on programs and exchanges), and branch campuses in third countries, to mention some. Internationalization is becoming a key feature of tertiary education around the world, although regions differ with regard to the degree of centrality to which internationalization has taken hold in their tertiary education systems. The main objective of the report is to stimulate policy dialogue around internationalization of tertiary education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region; it aims to raise awareness of the benefits of internationalization and push for it to become more of a priority in the region. The report therefore first gives an introduction to internationalization, including some global trends. It gives an overview of some of the benefits of internationalization of tertiary education. It then analyzes the situation of internationalization in the MENA region, identifying some obstacles as well as setting the ground for operational solutions aimed at supporting internationalization. (Publisher’s abstract)