Internationalization: going beyond the international offices

The globalisation of higher education brings together learners and teachers from different systems, creating a heterogeneous and diverse environment. Yet many higher education institutions typically expect foreign students to adapt to their new higher education environments (Kelly and Moogan, 2012).
However, in practice this doesn’t work. International students have specific needs that are met by traditional campuses structures.
When there is a big increase in the number of international students on campus (as a result of outward-oriented internationalization activities) the need to adjust the organization and structures of HEIs follows. At this point it is no longer possible to restrain internationalization to the walls of International Offices no matter how big those may be.
And, as internationalization of HEI’s starts leaving the limited circle of people working in international offices to become a matter concerning everyone on campus, new challenges regarding institutional organization are emerging. What will be the future of International Offices, if all services are engaged in internationalization?
If internationalization is everywhere: in the institutional goals functions and purpose, what happens to the Office whose distinctive feature was to be handling everything that concerned internationalization (or at least the teaching dimension of it). What will be its future as support services? Should it be dismantled and their officers moved to other services such as academic services or student support services?
As discussion on this matter continues to grow, and many universities around the world start dismissing their International Offices, we claim that International Offices should evolve to be strategic units for institutional development. If internationalization regards all, and its comprehensive nature impacts everyone on campus, then the experience acquired by international offices overtime, as well as their unique position for international benchmarking and strategic partnerships, makes these offices an invaluable asset in strategic development and innovation.