Implementation of Internationalisation Plans – challenges and opportunities

Internationalisation is not a trend but a transformation in the Brazilian Higher Education system. It brings a wider range of partnerships, academic mobility, and an increase in research networks; its advantages can also drive upward some of the factors considered when defining the quality of an institution – the number and impact of its research, the experience and production of its academic staff, and innovation.
It is important to note, however, that internationalisation can have a number of meanings, and its purpose and processes require a careful analysis depending on the type of institution and its objectives. This makes for a complex discussion on how to measure internationalisation and how to define its key developments.
One element to consider is what the higher education institution wants when it decides to internationalise; whether to expand its research links, promote a more diverse environment, stimulate academic mobility, or to improve teaching, internationalisation is not the end but the means to achieve these desired outcomes.
An internationalisation plan needs to have a clear vision, and create the strategy to deliver it in terms of short, medium, and long term objectives based on the reality of the higher education institution and what it wants to achieve. The new CAPES internationalisation programme, PRInt, was instrumental in highlighting the need for institutions to decide priorities, and create a time-frame of delivery. Successfully internationalised UK universities are known for having a list of priorities by country, area of knowledge, and type of partnerships.
Despite this, a common challenge for Brazilian and UK universities in the internationalisation process is to develop partnerships that are both institutional (most commonly via MOUs) and successful in creating a sustainable pipeline of projects and plans that make it effective both top-down and bottom-up.
At the same time, there are a number of institutions developing plans that focus on different aspects and possibilities of internationalisation – from the creation of courses in English and the structure to receive foreign students and professors, to the investment in sending researchers abroad to expand the research links, the internationalisation scenario in Brazil brings a number of possibilities.
The session will discuss these themes, and the findings in British Council’s reports and internationalisation calls, as well as examples of successful partnerships in internationalisation in Brazil.