This study is about internationalization activity in the British Columbia university colleges. It
discusses the environmental context, identifies the types of internationalization activities
which occur and discusses the impact of this activity on faculty, staff and administrative
work.
The investigation employs a nested case study with units of analysis occurring at five levels.
The university college sector is the first level; second, its senior officers; third, its deans and
directors; fourth, faculty members; and fifth, staff members. Data collection involved
individual and focus group interviews, compiling documentary and historical records,
participant-observation and on-site visits to each university college. M y intent was to learn
about internationalization, to identify the factors influencing its activity and to discover how
the activity influences the university college environment.
The research provided six key findings on internationalization in the university colleges: (1)
the meaning of internationalization is heavily influenced by the external environment; (2) the
university college workplace is shaped by growing numbers of international students; ( 3) the
university colleges have been very successful in attracting international students to their
programs; (4) internationalization work is both under-valued and under-supported at the
university colleges; (5) a separation exists between international education and faculty areas
and results in a number of misperceptions; (6) the university colleges are faced with
leadership challenges.
The key findings presented five general conclusions about internationalization in the
university colleges: (1) internationalization efforts do not have a legitimate voice nationally,
provincially or locally; (2) an institutional discussion and debate regarding the role and
purpose of internationalization has not happened at the university colleges; (3) the university
colleges run the risk of becoming overly dependent on a 'soft money' source to fund ongoing
financial commitments; (4) the university colleges face some ethical challenges as they
grapple with the economic imperative of internationalization; (5) the university colleges face
an inherent structural challenge that creates tension within and between their internal and
external communities.
Policy and practice recommendations are made to government, to higher educators and in
particular to the university colleges. The limitations of the study and suggestions for further
research are provided. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/18542 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Evans, Karen |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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