Internationalisation of Higher Education has emerged as a response from institutions to increasing challenges posed by Globalisation and fast advances in Information and Communication Technologies - ICTs. MBA students, particularly those in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), are now presented with a growing offer of Programmes with some level of Internationalisation. This research investigates and assesses the extent to which different levels of Internationalisation in Higher Education MBA Programmes influence Brazilian students’ and HR Professionals’ Perceived Value of such programmes and institutions and thus, their Level of Trustworthiness towards said programmes and institutions. To investigate the relationship between the Level of Internationalisation and Perceived Value, a Trustworthiness Index was developed for the Higher Education sector. Developed from a tested Trustworthiness Index originally designed by Ennew and Sekhon (2007) for the Financial Sector, this study used an adapted Delphi technique to reach consensus between 3 Higher Education Senior Executives and 3 Marketing Scholars. The new Questionnaire had 363 responses from MBA students who were presented with different levels of Programme and Institution Internationalisation divided into 4 Bundles - from no (zero) Internationalisation to 100% Internationalisation. The findings indicate that the proposed Index is a reliable and valid instrument to measure MBA Students’ Level of Trustworthiness towards MBA Programmes and Institutions, with an excellent Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient for reliability (above .9). The variables were then grouped into four Factors using Exploratory Factor Analysis. Thus, the underlying dimensions of Trustworthiness in Higher Education that emerged are Student Support and Quality; Values and Respect; Excellence and Academic Rigour; Diversity and Long-Term Commitment. A Trustworthiness Equation for Higher Education was developed using Structural Equation Modelling and applied to the four different Bundles. Each Bundle’s Level of Trustworthiness was then compared and the results, using ANOVA, show a positive relation between the Level of Internationalisation and the Level of Programme and Institution Trustworthiness. The findings of the quantitative stage with the MBA students were then discussed in semi-structured interviews with 13 Human Resources Professionals. MBA students and HR Professionals agree that Internationalisation in Higher Education increases the perceived value of both programmes and institutions. In the students’ opinion the best model would be a Programme with 100% Internationalisation, while HR Professionals believe the local experience equally matters, and therefore, the best choice would be a programme that offered an Intermediate Level of Internationalisation. This thesis also explores the valuable input that this research provides to Higher Education managers in what concerns students’ perceived value of several course components such as curriculum and syllabus design, instructional materials and resources, face-to-face and distance learning modes, teacher and staff qualification and preparation, amongst others.

A thesis submitted in comprehensive fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Communication Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014. Year 2014 / Globalisation is not a new subject since people and various organisations have been sharing information as well as buying from and selling products from each across national and international borders. In addition the expansion in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has changed the nature in which education is offered and consumed internationally. Globalisation and the spiralling evolution of ICTs has become the driving force for transformation in higher education sectors. Many universities have adopted or incorporated international trends in education and research. This new culture is aimed at producing graduates who are well suited and qualified to actively and productively participate in the global economy. This research provides a comprehensive study on globalisation, international communication and internationalisation of higher education. This study exposes profound observations about current international initiatives and drawbacks to internationalisation at a tertiary institution in the heart of a rural village in South Africa.

Globalisation has changed the higher education landscape dramatically in the past 20 years, especially for business schools. Accordingly, universities have had to adopt different internationalisation strategies in order to cope with this shifting context of globalisation and its many ramifications. In this thesis, a phenomenological approach has been adopted to examine how one French business school, ESC Clermont, has implemented internationalisation. Through this methodological approach the nature and processes of internationalisation have been examined using the lived experiences of participants at the school. The research shows how institutional engagement, strategic management, happenstance and a specific organisational structure shaped the internationalisation processes. An internal culture of openness and a commitment to language learning also contributed to furthering the internationalisation agenda. The findings show how the interaction between structure and agent were crucial in the school’s internationalisation process. This research also demonstrated that individual initiatives only happen within a favourable context which is created essentially by the culture and driven by the leadership. This study has also demonstrated the need for integrative strategic management of the organisational processes and the faculty. An important finding of this research is that internationalisation is a complex process that requires constant interaction between the people in the institution and the changing environment. The thesis presents a framework to assist in understanding the dynamics between the various dimensions of strategy, operations and faculty management in the internationalisation process. These dynamics are complex and require sensitive, on-going strategic management and open policies to ensure that the faculty members buy into the internationalisation activities. Finally, this study has enabled the researcher to reflect on his own role in the internationalisation process.

Questa tesi riflette l’attuale interesse per il dibattito educativo sul ruolo e sull’uso dell’inglese come lingua veicolare in ambiente accademico. I programmi che utilizzano l’inglese come Medium of Instruction (EMI) sono al centro dell’attenzione di questo studio, che si compone di una parte quantitativa e una parte qualitativa. Attraverso un’analisi aggiornata dei dati raccolti da Costa e Coleman nel 2012, la prima parte descrive i risultati di un questionario spedito a tutte le università italiane; la parte qualitativa descrive l’utilizzo dei marcatori metadiscorsivi impiegati da quattro docenti dell’Università Cattolica di Milano. A tale scopo, è stata adottata una versione semplificata del modello di Ädel (2003), proposto da Nobles (2010), e applicato in questa sede al discorso accademico orale. L’aumento del numero di corsi di EMI in Italia registrato da Costa e Coleman nel 2012 è rimasto stabile. Il confronto tra l’uso di marcatori metadiscorsivi personali e impersonali mostra un maggior utilizzo dei primi, in particolare del pronome personale “we”. Infine, lo studio vuole fornire dati e riflessioni a docenti, istituzioni universitarie e legislatori, utili anche alla progettazione di corsi di formazione per insegnanti. / This thesis reflects the shared current interest in the ongoing educational debate on the role and use of English as a medium of instruction in academic settings. English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) programs are the main focus of this study which includes a quantitative and a qualitative part. Through an up-to-date analysis of the data on EMI courses in Italy collected by Costa and Coleman in 2012, the first part shows the results of a questionnaire that was sent to all Italian universities; the qualitative part describes the use of metadiscourse markers by four Italian lecturers at the Università Cattolica of Milan. The simplified and restricted classification model of metadiscourse markers proposed by Nobles (2010), adapted from Ädel (2003), was here applied to the academic spoken discourse. The increase in the number of EMI courses in Italy registered by Costa and Coleman in 2012 has remained stable. The comparison of the use of personal and impersonal metadiscourse shows that personal metadiscourse tokens surpass the impersonal counterpart, with the pronoun “we” as the most frequent self-mention marker in the corpus. Finally, the present study can be of great interest both for lecturers and university policymakers or teacher-training designers.