Book: Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges, ISBN: ISBN: 978-81-922178-7-1

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A Global Think Tank in Higher Education
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Title: Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges
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INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
By
MTC Global ®
A Global Think Tank in Higher Education
EDITORS
Prof. Bholanath Dutta
President-MTC Global
&
Dr. Paramita Chaudhuri
Principal, LVES, Bangalore

i
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
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A Global think tank in higher education
president@mtcglobal.orgI chairman@worldedusummit.com I president@mtcglobalaward.org
I chairman@globalentrepreneursgrid.com
+91 96323 18178
www.mtcglobal.org

ii
CONTENT
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION: Opportunities and Challenges
Topic Author Page No
The Importance Of Developing
An International Strategy For
Indian Higher Education
Institutions
Gautam Rajkhowa
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for MBA at
Newman University, UK.
1-4
Study In India’-India As
Destination For International
Higher Education: A Critical
Overview
Dr. Indranil Bose
Dean and Associate Professor
University of Bolton, International academic
centre, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
&
Dr. Jayanta Banerjee
Associate Professor and Area Head-Marketing
Institute of Management, Christ University,
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
5-14
Understanding Communication
Barriers In The Academic
Institutions: A Gateway To
Success
Dr. Nalina Ganapathi
International Labour Organisation, Geneva,
Switzerland
15-20
Student Centered Strategies For
Quality International Education
Dr. Neeta Baporikar
Namibia University of Science and
Technology, Namibia & University of Pune,
India
21-35
Internationalisation Of Higher
Education: Underpinning
Rationales And Organisational
Structures
Manish Khare
MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi (D), Pune
36-55
International Research And
Publications In India
Dr. E. Bhaskaran
Deputy Director of Industries and Commerce
(EDP),
Department of Industries and Commerce,
Government of Tamil Nadu, Guindy, Chennai
56-65

iii
How Does Internationalized
University In India Look Like?
Nagaraja G Chitradurga
Retd. Head Master, DMS, Regional Institute of
Education
Dr. S. Sudha
Associate Professor, VELS Institute of Science,
Technology and Advanced Studies
66-77
Teaching Cross Cultural
Communication In Globalised
Education
Dr. Padma S Rao
Visiting Professor for MBA
78-94
Flying Campus - Transnational
Teaching!
Dr. Shakti Vel Rani
Principal,
Vyasa Arts and Science Women’s College,
Subramaniapuram
95-101
Mentoring In Higher Education
Dr. Shakila M.K
Director-MBA
Guru Nanak College, Chennai
102-109
Transformation Of Higher
Education From Ancient Period
To Modern Education System In
India
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mahboob Ali
Dhaka School of Economics
(Constituent Institution of the University of Dhaka)
110-114
Why Internationalisation Of
Education?
Kalyanlakshmi Chitta 115-137
A Swot Analysis On
Internationalization Of Higher
Education
Dr. Saikumari. V
Professor & Head of the Department
Department of Management Studies
SRM Easwari Engineering College, Ramapuram,
Chennai.
138-145
Ethical Issues In
Internationalization Of Higher
Education
Dr. Sandeep Poddar
Assistant Professor-S.P.D.T. Lions Juhu college of
Commerce
146-152
The Faculty And Student -
Mobility
Dr. Natika Poddar
Associate Professor-St. Francis Institute of
Management and Research
153-158
International Curriculum Sneha Ravindra Kanade
Assistant Professor, Garden City
University, Bangalore
159-163

iv
MTC GLOBAL ® : EDUCATE, EMPOWER, ELEVATE
Seva-yoga and Vasudevam Kutumbakam – An inspiring leadership case study
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Prof. Dutta can be connected at
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v

1
THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY
FOR INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Gautam Rajkhowa
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for MBA at Newman University, UK.
Introduction:
This paper presents a set of guidelines
that higher education institutions may wish
to adopt in crafting their
internationalisation strategy. Starting with
setting the global context and examining
the Indian perspective to
internationalisation, the paper looks at
some of the benefits such as soft
diplomacy, the challenges and
opportunities of higher education
internationalisation before suggesting a set
of guidelines for university
internationalisation.
The Global Context
The global landscape or higher education
has been changing dramatically over the
last 25 years. The major force influencing
this is the growing internationalisation of
higher education, which has been driven
by rising global student mobility, the
expansion of campuses by institutions
outside of the home nation (branch
campus), the increased presence of
validated and franchised degree provision
and joint qualification.
UNESCOs position paper interprets
internationalisation “as one of the ways in
which higher education is responding to
the opportunities and challenges of
globalisation. Internationalisation includes
a broad range of elements such as
curriculum, teaching/learning, research,
institutional agreements, students / faculty
mobility, development cooperation and
many more “(UNESCO 2003).
Globalisation has opened markets for
employment globally and students are
eager to grasp such opportunities. In this
competitive landscape, there is increasing
recognition that the economic and social
well-being of a nation and its citizen’s
rests on their ability to participate and
engage in a global knowledge economy.
Globalisation and internationalisation of
higher education are thus inextricably
linked.
The Indian Perspective
From an Indian perspective, the focus
should be on how global resources can be
utilised to increase access, enhance
quality, encourage diversity and less on the
commercial opportunities associated with
the fast-growing global market in higher
education.
To build capacity and raise quality
standards, India needs educational
institutions that are globally networked.
Just as India has benefitted from
liberalising her economy and opening it to
the world, the higher education sector too
would benefit from strong international
partnerships. Only when Indian academics
and researchers are collaborating and
working with the best in the world, will
Indian higher education institutions
become more internationally productive
and relevant.
Such partnerships would not only help
build capacity in meeting student demand
but also help develop greater awareness of
global issues among students and better
prepare them to participate and engage
more effectively in an increasingly
competitive global economy. International
students in Indian higher education
institutions will enhance the diversity of
Indian campuses and over the years
international students would help enhance
India’s visibility and presence on the world

2
social cultural and education space,
notwithstanding the tremendous
opportunity for soft diplomacy that goes
with overseas students returning home
from India.
Internationalisation - Soft Power
Whilst the economic contribution of
international students to a nation’s
economy is significant and can often be
monetised , what is equally if not more
important but not easily quantifiable is the
intangible benefits through soft diplomacy,
relationship building, human capital
resources, etc. that international students
help build between nations (Albatch ,1998,
Adams et al 2011).
Highlighting the significance of
internationalising education, a former
Australian higher education minister and
international diplomat commented:
“There is no powerful instrument for
transforming relationships between nations
than for the citizens of each to have been
educated for a period of time in the
country of the other”. (Adams et al, 2011).
International students should be seen as an
important part of a higher education
institutions’ resource base. As Albtach
(1989) highlighted almost a quarter
century back they are “one of the most
important elements of the international
knowledge system……… They are the
carriers of knowledge across borders
……They are the embodiment of the
cosmopolitan culture …. (and they) are
one of the most visible and important parts
of the worldwide exchange of knowledge”
(Albatch 1989).
Such inward mobility would provide
opportunities for Indian students who
cannot be internationally mobile to
develop global awareness and intercultural
fluency thus promoting –
‘internationalisation at home’
Opportunities And Challenges Of
Internationalisation
There are both opportunities and
challenges in Internationalising higher
education. The opportunities include
enhanced capacity, greater access for
students, development of joint curriculum,
greater diversity of programmes , exposure
to a variety of teaching and learning
methods, growing comparability of
qualifications, exposure to established
systems of education administration and
management, less brain drain of gifted and
bright students to foreign institutions,
fusion of cultures, exchange of research
ideas and enhancement of research
capacity, establishment of multinational
and cross disciplinary team and generation
of new academic environments.
The challenges and risks concern the
quality of provision, high fees leading to
an elitist provision, inequality of access
leading to a two-tier system which is
inconsistent with the equity and access
philosophy of both the institution and the
national government.
Important factors in any collaborative
arrangement are issues relating to the
award of the degrees and the determination
and approval of the quality assurance
systems and procedures used to approve
and accredit the qualifications. Equally
important are also issues of international
mobility and credit transfer of the
qualifications awarded.
Therein lies the opportunity for Indian
higher education institutions and policy
makers in addressing issues related to
curriculum delivery, quality of teaching,
relevance of course content, learning and
teaching strategies used and offering
programmes that are both globally and
locally relevant.

3
Internationalisation Strategy: Some
Guidelines
Given this background context it is
important that individual institutions craft
their own internationalisation strategy in
order to enhance the attractiveness of their
institution and programmes on offer.
Listed below are a set of guidelines for the
successful design and implementation of a
university’s internationalisation strategy.
1. Formalise the strategic process.
The first key to success for an
international strategy is having
one! it is important to have a
systematic approach to strategic
management factoring in within it
some flexibility for changing
circumstances. It is extremely
important that a university is clear
with regards to the position it
wishes to secure in the world and
hence this should guide its efforts
in seeking partners, programmes
etc. In doing this it should analyse
its own strengths and weaknesses
in teaching, research, examine
existing relationships and resources
at its disposal and work on how to
leverage on its strengths. It is often
useful to have a look at national
and global ranking standards to
help inform the strategic
management process. A three to
five-year strategic plan should be
the starting point.
2. Maintain a focus on the agreed
outcome of internationalisation.
Define the scope of the strategy
very clearly. Very often it is easy to
get carried away in different
directions. One must remain
focussed on agreed outcomes
however exciting alternative
directions may seem. This would
also include developing a clear
path for how the
internationalisation strategy is
going to be implemented.
3. Maintain a close link between the
institution’s resource capability
and its external environment. It
is always useful to make a list of
the institution’s key projects and
programmes that can be
highlighted when seeking for
collaboration and partnerships.
Comparing strategic initiatives is
often an effective way of exploring
avenues for cooperation.
4. Engage all stakeholder groups.
Consulting and soliciting input
from across the university
community is essential.
Establishing a framework to ask for
input from faculty, students,
alumni, support staff, corporate
partners, business community,
existing international partners (if
any) will be useful in developing a
rounded perspective that can be
fine-tuned in terms of scope and
action plans. Keeping the channels
of communication open helps.
5. Define and Refine strategic
partnerships. It is important to
regularly visit the list of
partnerships and assess their
engagement and effectiveness.
Sometimes it is better to just work
on a couple of partnerships which
can be sustained over a long period
of time. Equally important in any
joint venture is to have in place a
transparent system that clearly
determines the intellectual property
ownership and legal jurisdiction.
6. Establish a dedicated
professional international team
with adequate support from
leadership. Without support from

4
university leadership and adequate
funding the best strategies will
remain just that. It is therefore
important to have senior leadership
with oversight across the institution
to champion the efforts.
7. Communicate, Communicate,
Communicate. The importance of
engaging in every opportunity
available to communicate the new
strategy cannot be underestimated.
A non-confidential version
highlighting the key points should
be available for a communicating
to all stakeholders. This also is a
very useful document when
seeking out new international
partners.
8. Ensure that the strategy is a
living document and does not
find itself on the top bookshelf
once it has been written. Adopt a
review system which can monitor,
evaluate progress and revise the
strategy. Be patient and resist the
temptation to make too many
changes at the early stages.
Implementation often takes a
while, but it is equally important
not to be complacent and keep the
review process live.
Concluding Remarks
The test of a good strategy would be to
build in safeguards and checks that would
facilitate an understanding of and aligning
with international quality assurance
systems to develop standards that are fit
for purpose, context driven locally relevant
and globally both acceptable and
competitive.
Selected Bibliography
Adams ,T.,Banks, M., Olsen,A. (2011)
Benefits of international education:
enriching students, enriching communities
in Davies and Macintosh (ed) Making a
difference -Australian International
education.
Albach, Philip G. (1988), The Knowledge
Context: Comparative Perspectives on the
Distribution of Knowledge. Albany, State
University of New York Press.
Albatch, P., 1989. The New
Internationalisim: Foreign students and
Scholars. Studies in higher education,
14(2), pp. 125-136.
Albatch, P., 2001. Internationalisationand
exchanges in a globalized university.
Journal of Studies in International
Education , 5(1), pp. 5-25.
Albatch, P., Knight , J., 2007. The
Internationalistion of Higher Education:
Motivations and Realities. Journal of
Studies in International Education,
Volume 11, pp. 290-305.
De Witt, H., 1995. Strategies for
internationalistionof higher education : A
compartaive study of Australia, Canada ,
Europeand the United States . ,
Amsterdam: EAIE.
De Witt, H., 2011. Globalization and
Internationalization of Higher Education.
RUSC, 8(2), pp. 241-248
UNESCO (2003) :
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0
000145505

5
STUDY IN INDIA’-INDIA AS DESTINATION FOR INTERNATIONAL
HIGHER EDUCATION: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW
Dr. Indranil Bose
Dean and Associate Professor
University of Bolton, International academic centre, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
&
Dr. Jayanta Banerjee
Associate Professor and Area Head-Marketing
Institute of Management, Christ University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Abstract
India is fast emerging as a preferred
international destination for higher
education. The recent reports published by
many government agencies such as the
University Grants Commission (UGC), the
Association of Indian Universities (AIU)
have revealed this growing phenomenon
with substantial statistics. However, India
still needs to go far away to utilize her
huge potentiality to attract much more
foreign students to enroll with her
universities and institutions of higher
learning. Examples of the Asian
competitors such as Malaysia, UAE,
Thailand, China, Singapore etc., those
have fast emerged as preferred higher
education destination regionally and
globally can be the waking up call for
India. All these countries have much
smaller system than India and can offer far
less number of courses on their soil,
though many of them have surpassed India
in attracting foreign students to their
universities. Since 1970s, government of
India took specific initiatives to attract
foreign students on Indian soil, though
such efforts were restricted to the cultural
relations to a great extent. However, with
the growing challenges from the
competitors and emergence of education as
a major economic and political influencing
factor, subsequent Indian governments
have applied business policies and
strategies to attract more and more foreign
students. The present article has attempted
to explain the evolution of government
policies to attract foreign nationals to study
in India over the period of time. The very
recent ‘Study in India’ campaign can be
the game changer in this regard and only
future will be able to answer it. A small
survey has also conducted on 45 students
enrolled with three private universities in
Bangalore. The survey has clearly
indicated that Indian higher education
programmes are very much accepted
internationally and perceived as superior to
many other countries. However, India has
not been able to attract vast numbers of
foreign students from the developed
countries and that should be taken as a
major challenge with immediate effect.
Introduction
India has an outflow of $16 billion as
about 2.5 lakh Indian students leave for
foreign shores to pursue higher education
almost every year. At the same time,
Indian universities and colleges attract just
42,000 international students, as against
the US with nearly 10.5 lakh students, UK
with five lakh and China with about four
lakhs. Even France and Australia attract
about three lakh foreign students each year
(Hindustan Times, 2017). This not only
drains valuable foreign currency from
India, but India also loses many bright
talents from her own soil. A study by
Ramalingam (2015), has shown that since,
2000-2010, almost 2 million Indian
students have left for foreign countries in
search of higher education and almost 37%
of them have decided not to return to
India. The study has further shown that
this might have positioned Indians as one

6
of the brightest and best in the
international professional scenario, but has
also downgraded the image of India as a
relatively inferior destination for living
and higher education. This trend has
definitely effected the image of India
globally, when our nation is seriously
striving to become one of the most
powerful and influential countries in the
world, in political, economic and social
terms. A recent study has further shown
that growing number of foreign students
even from our neighboring countries such
as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan
etc. are preferring to choose the countries
like Malaysia, Thailand etc. rather than
coming to India and the same study has
shown that lack of international acceptance
of Indian qualifications and lack of
understanding of huge and robust Indian
higher education system has been
responsible for this tendency (Singh and
Hamid, 2016). Even the countries from
Africa and Asia, from where majority of
the foreign students are landing in India,
such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana,
Sri Lanka etc. are slowly shifting their
choices to the other emerging destinations
for higher education (Hamid, 2016). Based
on this unpleasant situation, few
fundamental questions should be
immediately addressed. For example, what
are the major impediments of India’s rise
as preferred global destination for higher
education, what can make our country as
preferred destination for many higher
education programmes not only from
relatively backward countries from Africa
and Asia, but also from other developing
and developed economies of middle east,
Europe, East Asia and even from
Americas. A research by Newman and
Kings (2009) has concluded that with the
growing reputation of higher educational
institutions, the respective countries’
global acceptance as a major economic and
political powerhouse also increases. He
has cited the examples of China, South
Korea and Malaysia. According to his
observation, all these countries have never
been a preferred international destination
for higher education till late 1980s and
since early 1990s, mass student influx
started in these countries not only from
developing economies, but also from many
developed economies in these countries.
The number of the foreign students,
enrolled with higher education institutions
in these three countries have increased by
41%-47% over last one decade, the study
further concluded. Another research by
Churchill and Young (2015), has found
that with the growing number of foreign
students landing in the newly emerging
economies of Asia and Eurasia such as
Kazakhstan, Turkey, UAE, Malaysia,
China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam etc. ,
many foreign universities and institutions
of higher learning of the western countries
mainly from UK, USA, Canada, France
and Germany have set up their branch
campuses or affiliated academic
institutions in large numbers in those
countries. The same study has revealed
that during 1990-2010 period a total
number of 79 universities or institutions of
higher learning have started their
operations and have attracted few thousand
students from other countries in those
locations. The point of discourse in this
narration can be an attempt to relating the
image of a country with international
diaspora in a more robust manner, that can
not only facilitate the economic and social
prosperity of a country, but also can work
as a major boost to the global image, too.
India, historically being a global
destination of higher learning and research
and with having one of the biggest higher
education systems in the world, has much
better potentiality to attract foreign
students in diverse fields and disciplines at
a much larger number than many other
countries, those are doing better. The
present article will attempt to explore
different dimensions of this present
phenomenon of Indian higher education

7
system as a preferred destination for higher
education.
Historical Background
There has been strong historical evidence
available that shows the bright position,
India used to enjoy as a global destination
for higher education. It has been found that
the Nalanda University in Pataliputra
region (presently in Bihar) was founded in
427 AD and the same university existed
until 1197 AD, till it was destroyed by the
invaders. This university has been
considered by many historians as the first
global university of the world. It was a
multi-disciplinary university of higher
learning devoted to devoted to Buddhist
studies, fine arts, medicines, mathematics,
astronomy, politics and art of war. It had
dormitories to house 10000 students and
provided accommodation to 2000
professors and attracted students from
Japan, Korea, China, Tibet, Indonesia,
Persia and Turkey among others. Hsuan
Tsang from China studied and later taught
here for five years in the 7th century AD
when it had 10000 students and 3000
teachers. It had a nine storied library with
9 million manuscripts at the beginning of
the 12th century. This library was
destroyed by fire which was raging for
nearly three months to destroy it. Thus our
very own, the Nalanda University could be
a benchmark of a truly global higher
education institution. A.L. Basham (1954)
in his legendary and classic work titled
‘The wonder that was India: a survey of
the history and culture of the Indian sub-
continent before the coming of the
Muslims’ has identified few parameters of
excellence of the University and he also
highlights the same reasons, those
promoted the Nalanda University as the
centre of global learning. He identified
such reasons as excellent student to faculty
ratio with one faculty for 3-5 students
(which is unarguably the best in the world
even today), 100% residential nature with
faculty and students residing on the
campus, international mix of students and
faculty with multiple disciplines of
students, internationally reputed faculties
serving the university on short term and
long term associations, an excellent library
with 9 million books/ manuscripts
(unarguably the biggest in the world at that
time). Another classic work by R.C.
Majumdar (1977) titled ‘Ancient India’ has
discussed on another great University, that
also emerged as true global destination of
higher learning from almost 40 countries
across Asia and Europe at that point of
time. back to 5th century BC until its
destruction in 5th
century AD. It was best
known for its association with Chankya,
who wrote the famous economics treatise
‘Arthshastra’ here. Ayurvedic healer
Charak also studied here who was pioneer
in the field of ayurvedic system of
medicine. Vedic studies, 18 different art
types which embedded skills such as
archery in training students were taught
here in addition to medicine, law and
military science. As already mentioned,
like Nalanda, Takshila also attracted
students from all over the world. Other
ancient universities included Odantipuri in
Bihar, Somapura now in Bangladesh, the
Vikramshila in Bihar and Pushpagiri in
Odisha. Thus as our ancient heritage, India
was indeed a global destination for higher
education and we need to seriously ponder
over to regain our past glory, by
benchmarking with best practices of those
times. A recent research on ancient Indian
higher education institutions by
Ramanujan (2010) has highlighted few
common features, most of these great
institutions used to practice such as
globally relevant curricula, innovation
through research and collaboration, best of
the class faculties, resource supports and
international recognition and respect for
their education. This last feature of the
common feature, i.e., international
recognition and respect for their education
has definitely emerged as the key
determinant for success of any
globalization initiative by any

8
contemporary university, anywhere in the
world.
Trends of Inflow of International
Students in Indian Universities and
Institutions of Higher Learning-An
Overview
It has been found from the databases
provided by the AIU and the UGC, that the
Indian universities and colleges or
institutions of higher learning started
admitting students from almost 90
countries as early as 1988-89. Since then,
this number of countries sending students
to India kept increasing. A study by
Ramanujan (2010) based on the data
provided by the Indian higher education
regulatory bodies has shown that the
students kept coming not only from the
developing and underdeveloped nations,
but also from the advanced and developed
nations such as USA, UK, Canada,
Australia, countries of the European Union
and Japan. During 1990s, the number of
foreign students joining the Indian
education increased steadily. However,
this trend got stagnated till the first half of
2000 (till 2002). However, the number
started increasing again and during the
year 2007-2008, the number reached
highest level till then at 21206 ( NUEPA
occasional paper, 2010). The inflow of the
foreign students however kept increasing
and by 2016-2017, the number got doubled
at more than 40000. While analyzing the
report published by NUEPA (2016), a
clear distribution of the students joining
Indian universities and higher institutional
institutions could be understood. The
report clearly shows that since 2005-2006
onwards, the share of foreign students
from Asian countries in Indian universities
and institutions of higher learning has
remained highest (approx.. 73%). The
report further highlighted that the absolute
number of inflow of foreign students from
Africa though increased, yet their share in
total foreign students in India reduced
since 1993-94 period. However, since
2009-2010 onwards, this trend has found
to be reversed and again the African
students’ share started increasing. The
other countries from Asia and Africa, from
where large number of students enrolled
with Indian universities and institutions of
higher learning during 2000-2009 are
China, Japan, North Korea, Jordan,
Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritus,
Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand etc.
Another noteworthy trend has been
mentioned by Singh and Hamid (2016) in
their research. He has noted that despite of
the fact of increasing number of foreign
students enrollment in Indian universities
and institutions of higher learning, the
student enrollment from the European
countries and America (including Canada
and USA) has remained stagnated since
2000-2010. A typical tendency has
however been identified by the Open
Doors 2008 reports. The report has shown
that though the enrollment of American,
Canadian and European students have not
seen any reasonable growth from 2000-
2010, yet a significant number of students
from those countries have joined Indian
universities and higher educational
institutions to study non-traditional
programmes such as Yoga, Ayurveda,
Indian Classical Music and Dance,
Indology etc. The recent report by the AIU
(2016), has also indicated that out of the
top ten countries contributed maximum
number of students to India, four are low
income countries (such as Nepal, Ethiopia,
Afghanistan, Kenya0, two are lower
middle income countries (Iran, Sri Lanka)
and five are from high income countries (
such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and
Oman). However, the students from the
majority of the high income countries
mentioned have been found to be NRI
children. The report published by AIU
(2016) has found following universities
and institutions of higher learning in India

9
as the major places of study of the foreign
students such as the University of Pune,
University of Mysore, Manipal University,
University of Delhi, Osmania University,
Alagappa University, Jamia Hamdard,
Indira Gandhi National Open University
(under the distance education), Symbiosis
international university. The same report
has further shown that majority of the
foreign students enrollment in the Indian
universities and institutions have happened
in the discipline like humanities and arts
(approx.. 25%), Science (approx.. 18%),
Communication and Management and
Commerce (approximately 25%) ,
Engineering and Technology (approx..
10%), medical sciences (approx.. 13%)
etc. Snehi and Wizarat (2012) in their
research have shown that maximum
number of foreign students in India have
enrolled with the undergraduate
programmes, followed by the students
from post-graduate and doctoral students.
The same study has further revealed that
few important reasons, those are
responsible for selecting India as the
destination of higher learning such as
quality of higher education, international
recognition of Indian degrees, lack of
opportunities of higher education in home
countries of the foreign students, relatively
lower cost of higher education in India etc.
Major obstacles faced by the students as
identified by the same research have been
found as absence of student support
services at the Indian universities or
institutions of higher learning, inadequate
scholarship facilities, language barrier,
many times lack of faculty support at
government institutions, inadequate
boarding facilities, stringent and
complicated banking system etc.
Government and Policy Support- A
Brief Overview
On April 28, 2018 a significant policy
prerogative was unfolded by the
Government of India. It was declared at a
mega event at New Delhi and was attended
by the Union minister for external affairs,
Sushma Swaraj, minister of state for HRD,
Satyapal Singh and diplomats from 30
countries, based in New Delhi. Two major
declarations were made in this conference
and these could be a paradigm shift in the
horizon of Indian higher education
scenario, if delivered the result , even
closed to the goals set. It was clearly said
that the Government of India set the target
to enroll almost 2 lakh international
students by 2023 and for that purpose, a
total number of 160 premier universities
and institutions (including IITs and IIMs)
were identified. The new policy further
clarified the government plan of keeping
15000 seats initiatially for foreign students
enrolments and out of these 55% remained
completely with heavily discounted seats.
To attract meritorious students from
foreign countries, the government also
declared it’s plan to offer complete fee
waiver to top 25% students, followed by
50% fee waiver to next 25% and 25% fee
waiver to next 25% students. This clearly
shows the sincerity of the government to
initiate a major policy, also named ‘Study
in India’ with immediate effect. The
initiative can be found like the admission
exercises conducted by the respective
governments of Australia, Malaysia,
Singapore and Canada. This recent
development of aggressive proactiveness
can however be considered as a
culmination of long tail of policy
initiatives by the government of India to
attract the foreign students to enroll with
the Indian universities and the institutions
of higher learning (Hindustan Times,
2017).
It is a well-known fact that the universities
in Europe and USA, emerged as the
prominent centres of global learning
during the nineteenth century and early
part of twentieth century. The universities
located in the former colonial powers such
as United Kingdom, France, Portugal,
Germany etc. came into prominence not
only for their advanced education

10
deliveries, but also by the influx of
students from their erstwhile colonies in
large numbers (University Education
Commission Report, 1949; Kothari
Commission Report, 1966; Powar, 2003).
However, this exodus of students from
these erstwhile colonies got restricted
since a large number of domestic
learning were set up in those countries,
after they got independence. India remains
a great example of this trend. In the post-
independence period, the university
education system in India has grown
tremendously to become the third largest
in the world, after China and USA. There
was some reversal in the trend and India,
too, began to attract foreign students
mainly from Asian, African and Arab sub-
continents on a very modest scale. Despite
the presence of foreign students on the
campuses of our metropolitan Universities,
the modest number of foreign students in
India could not attract the attention of
policy makers for long time (Powar and
Bhalla, 2000). In India, higher education
has remained largely inward looking. It
must be mentioned here that till 1990s, the
movement of foreign students in Indian
campuses was looked at from the point of
view of strengthening cultural relations,
not as lucrative business and international
prestige enhancement opportunities. With
the setting up of Indian Council for
Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous
organization, attempts were started to
facilitate exchange of scholars and
academicians in a selective way through
the award of scholarships (Aggarwal,
2008). However, with the increasing
importance of services sector including
education services, education is now
recognized as a tradable service sector
under the General Agreement on Trade
and Services (GATS) in many countries
across the globe, including India. Such,
change in shift was witnessed at a
significant level in India, when the
University Grants Commission (UGC)
reported in its Tenth Five Year Plan
Document that “promotion of
internationalisation and export of higher
education including the study of India
abroad programme” as one of the thrust
areas (UGC, 2002). Further, the
Association of Indian Universities (AIU)
was also made responsible for equivalence
and mutual recognition of qualifications;
those actually streamlined the equalization
process of the Indian qualifications with
the foreign qualifications to a great extent.
Thus, the efforts towards increase in
student and professional mobility gained
impetus since the year 2000. In another
significant development, the AIU on
behalf of the Indian universities signed an
agreement on co-operation in higher
education in 1999, with Australian Vice-
Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) which
provided for sharing of information, staff
and student exchanges, mutual recognition
of qualifications, staff development,
researchers’ exchange programme and
university management. This was indeed a
great development at that point of time,
which facilitated mutual mobility of
academic stakeholders between these two
countries. Subsequently, the scope was
broadened by the Government, by
permitting 15% supernumerary seats in all
the institutions for foreign/NRI students.
Besides, the Government also constituted
the Committee on Promotion of Indian
Education Abroad (COPIEA) in April
2002, under the chairmanship of Secretary,
Department of Secondary and Higher
Education. The major aim was that
COPIEA would monitor all activities
aimed at promoting Indian education
abroad and to regulate the operation of
foreign educational institutions to
safeguard the interests of the students and
the larger national interest as well. It was
decided to initiate a system of registration
under which institutions were required to
furnish information on operations and
adhere to certain guidelines relating to
publicity, maintenance of standards,
charging of fees, granting of degrees, etc.
It was expected that the COPIEA would,

11
over a period of time, develop sectoral
policy on foreign direct investment in the
education sector (10th FYP, Vol.2). Under
the “Promotion of Indian Education
Abroad” (PIHEAD), during the 10th
Five
Year Plan (2002 – 07), UGC identified
several countries for targeting to attract
international students to India. These
countries were identified, based on several
criteria such as country profiles
(demographic and economic) taking into
consideration, present state of their Higher
Education and Training System, skill gaps,
programmes in demand in them. UGC also
participated in NAFSA 58th Annual
Conference, at Montreal Quebec, Canada
in May 2006 with the strong and clear
intention of promoting the Indian higher
education system to a broader international
academic community. MHRD authorized
Educational Consultants (India) Limited
(Ed.CIL), a public sector undertaking of
the government, to act as a single window
agency for recruiting international students
for Indian universities and institutions of
higher learning. The government also
created an exclusive scheme called ‘Direct
Admission of Students Abroad (DASA)’,
wherein 15 % seats were reserved in
premier technical institutions such as the
National Institutes of Technology
(formerly the Regional Engineering
Colleges) and the centrally funded
institutions for Foreign Nationals/People
of Indian Origin (PIOs)/Non-Resident
Indians (NRIs). Besides this, Ed.CIL also
took up schemes to promote Indian
Education Abroad by representing Indian
higher education institutions in
Educational Fairs in other countries also.
In the year 2008, Prime Minister Shri
Manmohan Singh constituted an inter-
ministerial committee, headed by former
Director General of Indian Council of
Cultural Relations, regarding ‘Welfare of
Foreign Students in India’. The Report of
the Committee was submitted in the year
end and approved for circulation among
stakeholders. Recommendations made by
the committee regarding measures that
include making proper advertisement in
foreign countries about Indian culture,
education system, reputed universities and
courses offered by them, easing of
admission process, on-line admission and
urgent visa clearance for research scholars
and so on. Detailed modalities for
implementation of the measures were
worked out. Establishing of International
Students' Centres in every University was
also made as the major suggestion for
which UGC was asked to provide funds to
the universities. Thus, it is apparent that
initiatives to promote student mobility
from abroad to India have occupied a
prominent place in the government's
agenda since 2000. The recent ‘Study in
India’ is the culmination of all these long
efforts in it’s present shape.
Minor Research Project
A small survey has been conducted as the
part of the present article. A total number
of 42 students from five different
countries, presently enrolled with three
private universities at Bangalore have been
surveyed through a structured
questionnaire, exclusively designed for the
present research. The questionnaire has
been made by incorporating six major
factors for selection of India as their
preferred academic destination. These
factors have been taken from the published
work by Snehi and Wizarat (2012). Five
point likert scale has been used to record
the feedback from the respondents. The six
major factors identified for the present
research are perception of India as a
destination for study abroad programme
(no.1), perceived quality of higher
education in India (no. 2), perception of
the international acceptance and
recognition of Indian degrees and
diplomas (no.3), perception of superiority
about the Indian education than the
specific education offered by the
universities/institutions back home (no.4),
relative low cost of higher education in
India (no 5), getting an unique and

12
diverse cultural experience in India and
uniqueness of the specific programme the
student is enrolled (no.6). The students
surveyed in the research have been found
to be enrolled with the programmes like
engineering, business management,
humanities (economics and sociology),
India centric courses (Yoga, Indian
classical music etc.), medicine and
biological sciences. Feedbacks received
through questionnaire have been analysed
based on specific questions (Q.1-Q.6)
asked in the questionnaire and following
table (Table 1) depicts the overall response
patterns.
Table 1: Question wise over-all response
patterns:
Q’
No.
Strongl
y agree
Agree No
opinio
n
Disagree Strongly
disagree
1 8 32
(76.19%)
1 2 2
2 10 30
(66.66%)
4 1 0
3 4 41
(91.11%)
0 0 0
4 1 40
(88.88%)
4 0 0
5 5 11 2 27%
(60%)
0
6 5 16 4 20
(44.44
%)
0
The above response pattern clearly
indicates that most of the surveyed foreign
students have opted for Indian degree/
diploma programmes mainly for their
favourable perception of the international
acceptance and recognition of Indian
degrees and diplomas (Q. 3: 91.11%) and
positive perception of superiority of the
Indian education than the same education
offered by the universities/institutions
back home (Q. 4: 88.88%) than other
reasons. This clearly shows that the
positive perception and credibility of
Indian degrees/diplomas still are two
major factors, those attract foreign
nationals to study in India. Cost is also a
factor, but in the present study, it has not
emerged as a major factor as many
respondents have disagreed (Q. 5: 60%) on
the observation that they opted India for
cost benefit purposes. These findings
support the observations made by Lincoln
and Rowdan (2010). On a research
conducted on approximate 500 foreign
students enrolled in Malaysian
universities, they found the same pattern of
responses as important determinants for
choosing an overseas location by the
international students.
Findings and Conclusion
The above discussions have clearly
revealed the trends, patterns, pros and cons
of foreign student’s enrollment in the
Indian universities and institutions of
higher learning. Moreover, by analyzing
the policies and strategies adopted by
many of the leading foreign destinations of
higher learning, it can be understood that
the number of foreign students in India
cannot be increased only by basic
amenities or facilities improvement, but
also by improving international standings
of the Indian degrees or diplomas in global
market. There have been many policy
attempts before by the central government
to attract more foreign students in India,
but none of them have yield beyond small
improvements. Time will give the answer,
whether the present ‘Study in India’
campaign will be a real game changer or
will remain a short term boost as before.
Based on the detailed studies conducted by
many scholars, including Snehi and
Wizarat (2012), following areas of
interventions have been identified, those
can provide support to improve the
situation drastically. These are continuous
up-date of policy and strategy, best
possible branding campaigns, international
student support and collaboration,
implementing reaching out globally,
infrastructure development, international
benchmarking of the Indian programmes
and curriculum, faculty benchmarking etc.

13
As India has immense potential to market
its educational programme abroad,
internationalization of higher education in
the country in will and spirit at all
stakeholder level needs to be implemented
with systematic and urgent attention. India
can use the cultural soft-power to attract
many more Indian origin people with
foreign nationalities as China has been
successfully doing since last two decades
(Ling and Edward, 2016). The overall
possibilities are immense and can yield
most desirable outcomes through well
coordinated, aggressive and strategically
supported initiatives.
References:
Agarwal, P. (2008), India in the context of
international student circulation: status and
prospects’, in Hans de Wit and others
(Eds.), The dynamics of international
student circulation in a Global Context,
Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, The
Netherlands.
AIU (2016), Report on
internationalization of Indian traditional
education, New Delhi.
Basham, A.L. (1954), The Wonder that
was India, London.
Churchill, S. and Young, E. (2015), Asia,
the biggest battle field for global
education? , Higher Education Research
Review, Vol. 9 (4), pp. 67-71.
Hamid, A. (2016), International Education
and Student mobility , Asian Journal of
Service Management, Vol. 8(1), p. 67.
Kothari Commission (1966), National
Commission on Education, New Delhi.
Lincoln, D. and Rowdan, S. (2010), What
markets higher education in South East
Asia: A case approach on Malaysia,
Journal of Higher Education and Learning,
Vol. 5 (4), pp. 200-212.
Ling, C. and Edward, T. (2016), Diaspora
strategy in promoting domestic education:
The Chinese experiments, Strategy
Journal, Vol. 34 (2), pp. 601-617.
Majumdar, R.C. (1977), Ancient India,
Kolkata.
Newman, S. and Kings, R. (2009), What
happens in student marketing in
competitive world? , Journal of Business
Competitiveness, Volume. 21 (1), pp.
1047-1055.
NEUPA (2010), Occasional paper XI,
International students in India, New Delhi.
NEUPA (2016), Occasional paper XVI,
International students in India, New Delhi.
Powar, K.B. and Bhalla , V. (2000),
International students in Indian
universities, New Delhi, Association of
Indian Universities.
Powar, K.B. (2003), ‘Transnational
Education’, in InternationalIsation of
higher education: focus on India, Amity
University Press, New Delhi.
Ramalingam, D. (2015), Overseas
Education: A mass exodus from India? ,
Higher Education Weekly, Issue 98, pp. 5-
7.
Ramanujan, K. (2010), Classic universities
in the ancient world, London.
Sanyal, T. and Martin, K. (2006),
International student mobility: a trend
analysis, Journal of service marketing and
global economy, Vol. 6(3), pp. 90-112
Singh, K. and Hamid, A. (2016), Higher
Education in International Business
Market: A critical analysis, Journal of
International Business and Economics,
Vol. 34(2), pp. 341-346.

14
Nehi, N. and Wizarat, K. (2012), ‘Report
of Research study ‘Foreign Students in
India’, NUEPA, New Delhi.
‘Study in India’, National Edition,
Hindustan Times, December 27, 2017
UGC (1949), The report of the university
education commission, New Delhi

15
UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS IN THE ACADEMIC
INSTITUTIONS: A GATEWAY TO SUCCESS
Dr. Nalina Ganapathi
International Labour Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland
Abstract
The leaders of educational institutions
encourage multicultural education to a
great extent as that helps to attain
significant academic standards, thus
creates models of academic excellence in
the society. Today institutional settings
have become competitive and products
have become knowledge-based. Due to
globalisation, the workforce has become
culturally diverse. Educational
establishments are becoming increasingly
included in the global education market
and they are facing growing competition
for the best students. In the institutions, the
value of international students is
substantial as they symbolise diversity,
bring in new skills, innovative solutions
and add to the research capacity.
International students are key to
facilitating institutions and represent
countries to address skill shortages and in
contributing to the economy.
For students, learning and inhabiting fully
in a new and multicultural environment
has advantages and disadvantages. While
multiculturalism brings skills and
innovation, it also brings challenges.
International students confront many
challenges, especially when they are in the
transition to adapt themselves to new
surroundings. These include academic
demands, homesickness, loss of social
support and status, the need for self-
esteem, lack of study skills, and
confidence. Additionally, the language and
emotional barriers play significant roles as
they can lead to communication
breakdown among themselves and
between faculties and students.
The objective of this empirical research
study is to understand the need for
effective communication amongst and
between faculties and students in
educational institutions. To work on
simple but effective strategies to overcome
the communication barriers would be the
distinctive part of this research.
(This paper was written in the author’s
private capacity. The opinions expressed
therein are those of the author and in no
way reflect any endorsement by the
International Labour Office.)
Introduction
The evolution of any educational
institution depends on effective and
efficient communication. It is a unique tool
that is used to direct the board of
management to act in an ideal way to be
successful. Effective communication is
vibrant not only to develop good human
relationships but also helps institutions to
develop in a positive manner. Both verbal
and non-verbal communications are
considered to be significant for the
effective institutional climate as they
greatly impact institutional success.
Knowledge sharing and clear
communication are compulsory to satisfy
students, faculties, and to improve work
quality. Thus it becomes the responsibility
of the management to motivate faculties
and students to understand diversity and
encourage an application of transparent
communication. Today the corporate
setting is highly competitive, and the
workforce has become culturally and
academically diverse. Diversity obviously
brings communication challenges and
misunderstanding can easily occur. Thus
communication methodology can be

16
distressed. In such cases, understanding
diversity is the key to effective cross-
cultural communication. When students
from different cultures interact, as they
carry different perspectives, approaches,
ideas, and expectations, communication
can be challenging but also interesting. It
is the feature and understanding of a group
of people different by background,
religion, race, social factors, language,
religion, habits, and food. Culture and
communication are so intertwined that it is
easy to conceive that culture is
communication and or communication is
culture. Cultures shape the way of thinking
which then defines the way of behaviour.
Good culture endures impacting human
communications, effort, gender beliefs,
and wellbeing (Brislin, 1993). Intercultural
communication occurs when students with
different background and values create
shared resources. It helps to build trust
with each other and develop relationships.
Clear and transparent intercultural
communication is an outstanding tool to
focus on success.
The style of communication is created by
the leadership of the institution and deep
routed in the competencies, based on
which the business executed every day
(Ganapathi, 2018). Communication is one
of the most intricate and long-term
activities of human beings.
Communicating is an ever-continuing
development and is the natural act of
expressing ideas. In reality, it is vital to
human life's existence. It is a basic process
from where all the other functions of the
institutions originate. Thus communication
designs have an eloquent power on the
transparency of communication. The
anomalies in the flow of patterns bring
upon barriers and obviously that affects the
regular functions of the institutions. Being
social animals, human beings enjoy
communicating and in fact, cannot live
without it. In a persistent shifting world,
businesses are being driven by the need for
an efficient system to meet the goals of the
enterprise. Primarily, in the academic
institutions, that efficient system has to be
transparent communication that helps to
lessen the misinterpretations at the level of
management, faculty, and students. To
date, the influence of technology changes
the way the institutions are structured
when a new system is introduced and it
can help to reduce the communication
complexity (Ganapathi, 2016). To assure
the clear understanding of information
among faculties or between faculties and
students and or among students the
possible communication barriers have to
be foreseen and an action plan has to be
instigated to overcome. A communication
barrier is anything that stops the process of
transferring messages or thoughts or ideas
from receiving and understanding. In other
words, barriers to communication can be
expressed as the aspects or conditions that
interrupt the effective exchange of ideas or
thoughts. The message expressed is
considered external whereas feelings and
ideas are considered internal (Ganapathi,
2019). It is possible that the intended
messages and the required information
have difficulties to pass-through in the
expected desired form due to the existence
of possible communication barriers.The
factors that could cause hindrance for
effective communication be personal
interests, trust, fear, stress, status and,
organizational, physical and or emotions.
And so, the patterns of communication are
the essential requisite for the stability of
institutions. Without employing capable
faculties, the goal of the institution could
be difficult to achieve. Therefore, highly
motivated and committed faculties are the
key essentials for the success of any
institutions they in turn nurture students to
be good.
Literature Review
Both students and teachers in the colleges
should be equipped with knowledge of
nonverbal communication says Huang
(2010) as nonverbal communication plays

17
a significant role and it has a powerful
influence on classroom teaching. Western
scholars believe that the role of nonverbal
communication in classroom teaching is
greater than that of formal teaching for
students’ learning and the teachers are
required to learn to use nonverbal
communication to improve classroom
teaching (Bi Jiwan, 1995). To become
successful, a combination of diversity and
communication skill development are
essential keys says Greene and Burleson
(2003). It is a broad, authoritative source
and is crucial for scholars and students in
the field of disciplines studying social
interaction. Likewise, O’Toole (2008)
stated that the development of skills in
communication is a constant expedition,
which entails the alertness of personal
prejudices. Overcoming the barriers to
effective communication is a positive and
rewarding process. A study by Dawan et
al. (2014) on cultural communication
depicts the difference between verbal and
non-verbal communication, identification
of communication needs, interpersonal
communication skills and the necessity of
identifying cultural barriers. Kurylo (2013)
introduced to case studies, narratives,
examples, and images that reflect the
perspectives and provide a depth and
breadth of varied cultural experiences in
his book on intercultural communication.
Enabling students to engage to understand
the diversity of people with whom they
come into contact to build their network is
a key. As well, to deal with unfamiliar
cultures can be challenging and so it
becomes important that students to learn
how to address cultural communication
opportunities when interacting in
cyberspace (St. Amant, 2005). Effective
cross-cultural communication enables
businesses to run more effectively and
successfully in academic institutions.
Understanding cultural differences and
overcoming language barriers are some of
the considerations management staff of the
institutions should have while dealing with
individuals of various cultures (Ganapathi,
2014). The growing business opportunities
in foreign markets create more and more
demand for managers, business people,
and professional staff who have developed
an international outlook and cross-cultural
communication ability. Multicultural
education is important to help students
from diverse cultural groups to attain the
academic skills needed to function in a
knowledge society (Maude, 2011).
Successful communication in culturally
varied workplaces is an essential tool both
internally and overseas (Reynolds et al.
2004).
Intercultural Barriers
In the globe of the multicultural
environment, cultural barriers help to
communication flourish. While the major
difficulty in the successful collaboration
among students and between students and
faculties is language when it is different.
This is due to different background, the
different frame of reference, and the
emotional difference that could result in
dissimilar actions. The difficulties with
communication happen when the
expressions are not fully understood and or
appreciated by the other. When
communication difficulties become
noticeable and common, finding solutions
to problems becomes necessary (Shachaf,
2008). A language is multifaceted when
communicated between people speaking
diverse languages. It is a distinctive tool
for transparent communication. The
speaking skill is a requirement for any
language. Apart from speaking, listening is
nevertheless one of the most essential
communication skills as well. The
listening process can be fragmented into
five different phases of the message, such
as receiving, understanding, remembering,
evaluating and responding. These benefits
segregate the necessary skills required at
each individual step in the process. About
80 per cent of waking hours of humans
have been spent in some form of
communication, which includes reading,

18
writing, speaking, and listening (Knutson,
2013).
The culture has a huge impact on
communication. It has its own rules about
behaviour that could affect verbal and
nonverbal communication apart from
showing emotion differently in the
academic institutions. Cultural barriers can
be seen as both shaping and being shaped
by the conservative patterns of
communication that is established in
academic institutions. Intercultural
communication provides value and helps
to rule-out risk. Communication is an
emblematic procedure by which people
generate collective values. Similarly,
intercultural communication occurs when
people with different cultural perspectives
and values create shared resources. It helps
to build faith with each other and develop
relationships. In spite of all mentioned,
due to diversity in cultural thinking, it is
possible to run into miscommunication in
a multinational setting (Goman, 2011).
Faculty-student/student-student
relationships can heavily influence
important results of institutions such as
commitment, performance and as well as
revenue. Culture, therefore, gives a sense
of identity for the existence of institutions
in the world and to represent who they are,
what they stand for and what they do to the
society (Ganapathi, 2019). Institutional
culture combines morals and actions that
contribute to the status situation of an
institution (O’Donnell and Boyle, 2008). It
is possible that the barriers of
communication twist the proposed
messages and the required information
does not spread in the expected form
(Damanpour, 2012). In principle, the
faculties and students lack knowledge
about their institutions. However,
inappropriately structured institutions,
unclear communication processes, and
several other common barriers ultimately
obstruct the institutional climate. The
barriers of communication lead to
inconsistent setting and generate
disconnected professional relationships
among colleagues (Kokemuller, 2016).
Findings
Despite the acquaintance of the topic on
the communication and as observed during
the literature survey, there is no in-depth
research work done to understand the level
of transparency and complexities focusing
academic institutions.
Conclusion
In the business world, effective operative
communication is vital that has an
influence on the success of the institutions
(Sullivan, 2011). Without a clear and
transparent internal communication, the
business of the institutions can face
challenges and that eventually lead to its
demise. In order to guarantee success and
stability of the academic institutions, it is
important to understand the importance of
effective communication, the barriers that
affect the free flow have to be identified
and take mandatory actions to eradicate.
To enrich success it is important for the
management of the academic institutions
to work on simple but effective strategies
to identify hindrances such as organizing
an open forum to discuss and obtain the
feedback from faculties and students. Most
importantly the feedback has to be
evaluated open-mindedly and plan for
operative actions. For the welfare of the
academic institutions and for the personal
benefits, the faculties and students have to
have in-depth knowledge about their
institutions, respecting and adhering to
objectives are the important points to be
kept in mind. While encouraging the level
of open communication among students
and students and faculties by the
management, respecting the reputation of
the institution, feeling responsible and
inclusive by the students are
quintessential. No doubt, this can lead to
the great stability and this would be the
best gateway to the success of academic

19
institutions in the era of globalisation
(Ganapathi, 2019).
References
Bi Jiwan. (1995). Nonverbal
Communication : In a Dictionary of
British and American Culture edited by Hu
Wenzhong. Beijing: Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press.
Brislin, R. (1993). Understanding culture’s
influence on behaviour. Fort Worth:
Harcourt.
Damanpour, F. Devece, C. Cuej, C.C. and
Pothukuchi, V. (2012). Organisational
culture and partner interaction in the
management of international joint ventures
in India. Asia Pacific Journal of
Management. Volume 29, Issue 2, pp.
453–478.
Dawan, D. Hunter, A. McGhie, V. Horn,
J.M. and Conrad, D. (2014). Workplace
Communication Problems: Inquiries by
Employees and Applicable Solutions.
Ganapathi, N. (2019). The need for
Intercultural Communication Skills in the
Multicultural Settings.
Ganapathi, N. (2019). Workplace
Communication: Influence of Emotional
Barriers in a multicultural setting.
Ganapathi, N. (2018). Relevance of
Internal Communication in Multicultural
Organisation.
Ganapathi, N. and Panchanatham, N.
(2016). Corporate Governance – The
Importance of Communication and
Culture. Indian Journal of Science and
Technology, Volume 9(33).
Ganapathi, N. and Panchanatham, N.
(2014). The Role of Human Resource
Management in Cross-Cultural
Environment – The Way to Managerial
Communication.
Goman, C.K. (2011). Communicating
Across Cultures.
Greene, J.O. and Burleson, B.R. (2003).
Handbook of Communication and Social
Interaction Skills.
Group of Eight Australia (2014). Policy
Note – International students in higher
education and their role in the Australian
economy.
Huang (2011). Mitigating the Negative
Effects of Geographically Dispersed
Teams.
Knutson, C. (2013). Which
Communication Skill Is Most Important?
Kokemuller, N. (2016). Some barriers of
communication lead to conflicting
ambiance and detached professional
relationships among colleagues.
Kurylo, A. (Ed.) (2013). Inter/Cultural
Communication: Representation and
Construction of Culture.
Lee, S. and Bradley, D.K. (2014). Relation
between general self-efficacy,
assertiveness, spirituality, and
acculturative stress among international
students
Maude, B. (2011). Managing cross-
cultural communication: Principles and
Practice.
O’Toole, G. (2008). Communication: core
interpersonal skills for health
professionals.
Pederson, P. B. (1991). Counseling
international students. The Counseling
Psychologists, 19, pp. 10-58.

20
Poyrazli, S. Arbona, C. Nora, A.
McPherson, R. and Pisecco, S. (2002).
Relation between assertiveness, academic
self-efficacy, and psychosocial adjustment
among international graduate students.
Journal of College Student Development,
43(5), pp. 632-642.
Reynolds, Sana, Valentine and Deborah
(2004). Guide to cross-
cultural communication.
Shachaf, P (2008). Cultural diversity and
information and communication
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St. Amant, K. (2005). When Cultures and
Computers Collide - Rethinking
Computer-Mediated
Communication according to International
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Sullivan, J. (2011). Increasing Employee
Productivity: The Strategic Role That HR
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Wu, H-P. Garza, E. and Guzman, N.
(2015). International Student’s Challenge
and Adjustment to College.

21
STUDENT CENTERED STRATEGIES FOR QUALITY INTERNATIONAL
EDUCATION
Dr. Neeta Baporikar
Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia & University of Pune, India
Abstract
International education is crucial and
strategic in higher education. In fact, the
objectives achievement of higher
education in general and discipline in
particular depend upon the soundness of
international education and development.
Still, in spite of excellence in international
education and development especially in
management education, the objectives of
management education seem to be far from
attainment. After all the goal of
management education should be to create
global leaders who then with right
attributes and holistic inclusive thinking
will be able to address global issues in an
optimum manner. If that is the goal, then
there is need for management educators to
look critically at the linkage between
pedagogies and international education.
Adopting a mixed methods approach the
objective of this chapter is to look at
linking student centred pedagogy with
quality international education for that
goal attainment, to enhance and enable the
creation of much needed global leaders
and citizens for this global economy.
Keywords: Achievement, Education,
Discipline, Learner, Management,
Objectives, Outcome, Programme,
University
Introduction
During the past several decades, with the
dramatic development of economy and
technology, international trade and
internationalization have become a trend
and become more widely held by many
enterprises and economies (Baporikar,
2016b). This phenomenon has many
reasons, such as the reduced barriers make
it ready for firms to access the new market,
the companies never stop pursuing to
search the cheapest resource, the
increasing consumer requirement in the
overseas market is also a pull factor for
companies to launch their products or
service to the foreign market (Doole and
Lowe, 2008). As we know, since the early
1980s, the world economy has experienced
rapid ―globalizationǁ and over the past
ten years, the business area has changed a
lot due to the globalization and
internationalization (Lee and Slater, 2007).
According to Doole and Lowe (2008), the
emergence of more open world economy
and the unabated construction of global
electronic highways increase the inter-
dependency and inter-connections of
nation economies across the globe.
Therefore, the need for managers to
develop managerial skills to respond to
various pressures affects companies of all
sizes (Baporikar, 2014).
In addition, the concept of
internationalization has drawn many
researchers’ attention during past several
decades. However, the situations would
vary when in different industrial context
and in different parts of the world want to
internationalize (Baporikar, 2016). The
size of enterprises and many other factors
would also affect the process of
internationalization (Baporikar, 2015).
Indeed, many researchers and previous
studies have tried to provide different
theories and answer the questions within
this area from different perspectives
(Andersson, 2004; Forsgren, 2002; Harris
and Wheeler, 2005). Further, the reasons
causing internationalization process to
succeed or fail can be traced to various
factors both internal factors and external
factors. Palich and Gomex-Mejia (1999)

22
mentioned the effects of cultural diversity.
In addition, the strategic change would
also be considered (McDougall and Oviatt,
1996). However, McDougall, Shane and
Oviatt, 1994; Harris and Wheeler, 2005;
Carpenter and Sanders, 2004), focused on
financing decisions, entrepreneur’s
relationship, top management team and so
on which are more internal in nature.
Westhead, Wright and Ucbasaran (2001)
claimed that - policy-makers and
practitioners with additional insights into
the key resource-based factors associated
with the decision by new and small
independent firms to export sales abroad.
There also are some studies examining
both external and internal factors,
Asakawa, 1996; Forman and Hunt, 2005.
Education sector globally is not an
exception to this international wave.
International education is crucial and
strategic aspect in higher education. In
fact, the achievement of the objectives of
higher education in general and of specific
discipline largely depends upon the
soundness of international education and
development. However, in spite of
excellence in international education and
development especially in management
education, the objectives of management
education seem to be far from
achievement. After all the goal of
management education should be to create
global leaders who then with right
attributes and holistic inclusive thinking
will be able to address global issues in an
optimum manner (Baporikar, 2017e). If
that is the goal to achieve then there is
need for management educators to look
critically at the linkage between teaching
pedagogy and international education.
Adopting a mixed methods approach the
objective of this chapter is to look at
linking student centred pedagogy with
quality international education for that
goal attainment. In doing the higher
education, enablement to create much
needed global citizens for this global
economy will enhance.
Thus, this chapter is about student centered
strategies for quality international
education as internationalization of higher
education seems to loom large on the
agenda of policy makers in higher
education in India. International education
is on the horizon large and that certainly
presents an array of opportunities and
challenges. One of such opportunity as
well as challenge would be how to ensure
quality in international education. One of
the strategic pillar would be to take care of
the teaching quality which is benchmarked
globally in terms of pedagogy, delivery
and technology. Hence, the chapter
focuses on the pedagogy and seeks to
understand how student centered strategies
can enhance and aid for quality
international education.
Lecturing large classes is not the norm
anymore. Universities and HEIs have
realised that teaching is not the poor
cousin of research. In fact, many of them
are responding by making teaching as
more focused area for university branding
and status. After all, if the students who go
through the portals of these universities
and institutions lack capabilities,
employable and life skills than the very
purpose of higher education is
questionable. Apart from that, the huge
investments, to set up these, also become
sunk costs and wise burden the economies.
Research and studies have also brought in
the realisation that that good teaching is as
much a function of an institution-wide
infrastructure though it may be a gift to
some lucky academics born with it.
Various factors influence teaching and
learning process and this in turn impacts
the students’ retention (Baporikar, 2018).
However the main factors, include
students’ levels of engagement versus the
level of learning activity to achieve the
intended learning outcomes in particular
context and that can range from
‘describing’ to ‘theorizing’, as shown by
dashed lines in Figure 1).

23
Figure 1. Students’ Engagement Relation
to Learning Activity Level
Source: Adopted from Baporikar, 2018
Student Centered Strategies
Good teaching is getting most students to
use the level of cognitive processes needed
to achieve the intended outcomes. Hence,
teachers, staff, developers and
administrators – need to immerse
themselves in the ‘scholarship of teaching’
(Boyer 1990). Academics have always
been teachers, but there priority is to
remain update with content discipline and
publish. Developing teaching expertise
usually takes back seat. Institutional
structures and reward systems as much as
the individual preference also dictate here.
On the other hand, the other side of the
coin of what constitutes a good academic
is responsibility to address that body of
knowledge, which underlines good
teaching,
Effectiveness of teaching depends on how
we view teaching. Teaching perception
prevails in three ways. The first is blaming
the learner, the second the teacher. The
third integrates learning and teaching. It
sees effective teaching as encouraging
students to use the learning activities most
likely to achieve the competences
(Baporikar, 2016c; 2016d). Here there is a
need of understanding how students learn.
Students adopt surface approach or deep
approach to learning. These approaches are
the resultant of the low-level or high-level
activities in adoption towards teaching
learning. Appropriate level of activities
will result in appropriate level of learning
and achieve the relevant outcomes. Hence,
good teaching must support those
appropriate learning activities and
discourages inappropriate ones.
All teachers have some theory of what
teaching is: when they are doing it, even if
they are not explicitly aware of that theory
and their theories deeply affect the kind of
learning environment they create (Gow
and Kember 1993). Three common
theories of teaching exist. See figure 2. It
is also a route map towards reflective
teaching.
Figure 2. Three levels
Source: Self-Developed
Level one teacher’s emphasis on the
differences between students, and believe
there are good students, like X, and poor
students, like Y. Level one teachers see
their responsibility as knowing the content
well, and expounding it clearly. Thereafter,
it is depend on the student and the premise
is that if X does - good student Y does not
– poor student. Here teaching is constant –
it is transmitting information, usually by
lecturing – so differences in learning are
due to differences in students’ ability,

24
motivation, what sort of school they went
to, good grades/results, and ethnicity and
so on. Thus level one focuses on ability
thus, teaching is not an educative activity,
but an assessment to sort good students
from the bad after teaching is over. One of
the major drawbacks of this belied that is
that curriculum contents are for
explanation from the podium, and how the
students receive that content and what is
their depth of understanding is not of
importance nor addressed. This level 1 is
founded on a quantitative way of thinking
about learning and teaching (Cole 1990).
This view of teaching as a transmission
process by the university and institutions is
so deep that and in wide acceptance that
teaching facilities, rooms and media design
is for one-way delivery.
Thus, a teacher is the knowledge expert,
the sage on the stage, and how well
students do these things depends, in this
view, on their ability, their motivation –
even their ethnicity, students frequently
being unfairly and inaccurately stereotyped
as ‘rote-learners’ (Biggs 1996). Level one
thus operates on the blame-the-student
theory of teaching. Hence, the
responsibility of learning is squarely on
the students without consideration to
teaching methods, curriculum design
education and learning styles.
Following comments made by teachers
who profess level 1 reflect this:
 How can one teach students with poor
schooling?
 They lack any motivation at all.
 These students lack suitable study skills.
 These students cannot even write as
sentence.
 Students do not have reading skills.
Though these statements may have some
truth in themselves, which is the challenge
for teachers, which needs dealing with, and
not an excuse for poor teaching. This also
means that level one teaching is not
reflective and hence, the teachers fail to
ask the key propagative question and
introspect on what else they must do to
ensure that students learn, understand and
acquire the knowledge/skills.
Level two teachers’ focus on what they do
and the view is still on transmission, but
transmitting concepts and understandings,
not just information (Prosser and Trigwell
1998). In this level, the teacher
significantly takes the responsibility for
getting the content across and realises that
there are many ways in teaching and some
more effective than the other is. This is an
improvement over level one, as learning is
moving from students’ ability to more
what the teacher does. It also means that
the teacher would have different teaching
skills and the effort to make students
understand complex concepts could be
through use of more than lecture method.
For example:
After an introduction through an
interesting icebreaker, the agenda for the
class is given. There may be an exercise or
a group discussion. Sometimes the teacher
even recapitulation and provided the
proposed lesson plan for next class, etc.
However, level two has plenty of variation,
which does result in better and more
students’ response and even positive
learning, yet it is entirely teacher centred.
It is about what the teacher is doing and
not what the learning is.
Level two still is resting on traditional
approaches to teaching and focus more on
what the teacher does. There may be
courses and books that provide
prescriptive advice on getting it across
more effectively. Rules and clear
procedures, clarity regarding use clear
visual aids and better communication to

25
students etc. may be prevailing but all this
amounts to classroom management rather
than facilitation of learning. Not to say that
classroom management is unimportant but
that cannot be a substitute for good
learning strategies.
Thus, level two is also the blame model
but here the shift of blame is on teacher
and this may suit the administrative
approach, which prevails in many
universities and institution but does not
help to achieve the real objective of higher
education. Moreover, competences of
teaching like constructing a reliable
multiple-choice test, using educational
technology, questioning skills, is useful
only if it is appropriate and if there is a
right timing and proper usage to enhance
the learning. After all the focus must be
not on the skill in itself, but the
deployment will have the desired effect on
student learning.
Level three teacher is the real way to go
about teaching in the current world of
knowledge society. It is here that the focus
is on what the student does and how that
relates to teaching. Level 3 is a student-
centred teaching, which focuses on
teaching to support learning. It includes
not only knowledge expertise of the
subject but also the mastery of various
techniques of teaching for application and
ensuring that the learning occurs and there
is attainment of intended outcomes. This
implies a view of teaching that is not just
about facts, concepts and principles to be
covered and understood, but also to be
clear about what is meant by
understanding the coverage in the way that
is stipulated in the intended learning
outcomes. It is about teaching/learning
activities that are essential to achieve those
required levels of understanding.
Level one and level two did not address
these questions. The first question requires
specification of levels of understanding in
relation to a topic and it is not about the
array of techniques but about the students
learning and the quality of learning. It is
also, about whether the learnings are
sufficient to help them in the application at
their workplace. Otherwise, the very
purpose of higher education is defeated.
The second question requires the teaching/
learning activities design and tuned to help
students achieve those levels of
understanding. This leads us to the import
aspect of international education.
International Education
Fraser and Bosanquet (2006) emphasized
that staff working in higher education have
very different understandings of the term
‘curriculum, as various as
• The structure and content of a unit
(subject)
• The structure and content of a
programme of study
• The students’ experience of
learning
• A dynamic and interactive process
of teaching and learning
(Fraser & Bosanquet, 2006).
Lattuca and Stark (2009) in their extensive
work on curriculum highlighted that staff
used similar breakdowns of this term. This
lack of a shared understanding of the term
‘curriculum’ can be problematic when
staff gather to do international education
and development for any discipline,
programme or course. They proposed a
useful framework where all stakeholders
can use the concept of an academic plan.
This certainly aids in enhancing the
effectiveness of planning process for
international education and development.
Figure 4 gives the modified framework
Figure 4. Framework for Quality international education

26
Source: Adopted from Lattuca and Stark, 2011.
Thus, international education has often
been in use interchangeably with the term
global education. However, we prefer to
use the term international education, as we
believe that it is a process, is always more
fluid, dynamic, and is in the development
process more often than a structured
design kind of thing especially in
management education, which is also
always dynamic and socio-culturally
contextual.
Ornstein and Hunkins (1998, p17) describe
that: international education encompasses
how a curriculum is planned,
implemented, and evaluated. The starting
point of a programme design is a) the
consideration of the needs and resources
for the programme; Diamond (1998)
describes this as carrying out a ‘needs
analysis’. Some useful interrogations to
consider in a needs analysis of a
programme include for example: needs of
society in which the educational
programme exists. Priority for the
programme; academic resources
availability within the
institution/university to support the
programme; sufficiency of other resources
to ensure success of the new programme;
feedback if any from current students and
other stakeholders about existing curricula
and the articulation of a vision and set of
values i.e. a programme’s educational
philosophy. Having an educational
philosophy statement at the beginning of a
programme can communicate to students
and academic staff the rationale for
particular teaching, learning and
assessment approaches. O’Neill (2014), in
the research on international education
highlighted that the lack of a common
educational philosophy affected
programme sequencing and coherence.
After evidence gathering regarding the
need for a new (or revised) programme,
prior to international education it is
important to draw together the programme
team to consider/discuss views on how

27
students learn (Toohey, 2000; Stark, 2000;
O’Neill, 2010).
Educational Philosophy Linkage to
International Education
An educational philosophy is a statement
agreed by a programme team that sets out,
the programmes: purpose(s), education and
subject/discipline/professional values, the
nature of the learning environment for
students, the key approaches to teaching,
learning and assessment. The need of
composing an educational philosophy is
that it will aid the process of writing and
assist the international
Education / programme team to dialogue
and articulate individual educational and
subject/discipline or professional values
but at the same time to bring in
consistency through negotiated and agree a
shared vision and some common values.
This will ensure that the outcome of the
process of international education not only
has a buy-in form the academia but also
inform a more coherent choice and
sequence of programme outcomes;
content; teaching, learning and assessment
approaches in the programme. It also
enhances the transparency of the
programme’s key vision and values to
students and other stakeholders. Once the
educational philosophy is established, the
team should have a shared view of the
teaching and learning approaches that they
consider important. At this point, a relook
on the suitability of curriculum models for
suitability to all or most of the aspects of
the programme is crucial.
Curriculum models help in designing
systematically and transparently map out
the rationale for the use of particular
teaching, earning and assessment
approaches. This not brings in consistency
but also enhances the teaching-learning
process and facilitates in acquisition of the
required graduate attributes of university
and professional education programme per
se. Ornstein and Hunkins (2009) suggest
that although international education
models are technically useful, they often
overlook the human aspect such as the
personal attitudes, feelings and values
involved in curriculum making. Hence, it
is important to know that these models are
mere parameters and not a recipe and
should not be a substitute for using your
professional and personal judgement on
what is a good approach to enhancing
student learning. A commonly described,
maybe slightly simplistic version, of
polarised curriculum models are those
referred to by many authors as the
‘Product Model’ and the ‘Process Model’.
The Product Model is traceable to the
writings of Tyler (1949) who greatly
influenced international education in
America (O’Neill, 2010). Models that
developed out of Tyler’s work, were
criticised for their over emphasis on
learning objectives and were viewed as
employing very technical, means-to-end
reasoning. The Product Model, however,
has been valuable in developing and
communicating transparent outcomes to
the student population and has moved
emphasis away from lists of content.
Recent literature in this area suggests that
in using this model, ensuring not to be
overly prescriptive when writing learning
outcomes is critical (Hussey & Smith,
2003; 2008; Maher, 2004). Hussey and
Smith maintain that: accepting that student
motivation is an essential element in
learning, we propose that those who teach
should begin to reclaim learning outcomes
and begin to frame them more broadly and
flexibly, to allow for demonstrations and
expressions of appreciation, enjoyment
and even pleasure, in the full knowledge
that such outcomes pose problems for
assessment. (Hussey & Smith, 2003, p367)
Knight (2001) expresses the advantages of
a more Process Model of curriculum
planning in comparison to the Product. He

28
notes it makes sense to plan a curriculum
in this intuitive way, reassured by the
claim from complexity theory that what
matters is getting the ingredients— the
processes, messages and conditions—
right and trusting that good outcomes will
follow. This suggests that when working in
a more Product Model of learning
outcomes, it may be more valuable to
consider first what it is you are really
trying to achieve in your teaching/learning
activities and to write then the programme
and/or module learning outcomes.
In addition to the Process and Product
Model, there is a range of different, more
specific, models that individually or
collectively could suit your programme
design. Some of the curriculum models
have grown out of different educational
contexts, such as school, higher and adult
education. However, many are transferable
across the different areas. Some are
described as ‘models’ and as they become
more specific they may be referred to
‘designs’, i.e. subject-centred designs.
Neary (2003) describes the emphasis of the
former on plans, intentions, and the latter
on activities and effects (The Process
Model). In most programmes, there are
elements of both of these models,
however, the emphasis may vary and one
can be more dominant than the other can.
Further, according to Stark (2000)
contextual filters that influence curriculum
decisions are student characteristics, goals,
external influences, program and
institution goals, pragmatic factors,
pedagogical literature, advice, facilities
and opportunities availability on campus.
These different and other contextual filters
are classifiable into international, national,
institutional, programme/discipline
contexts, which influence the curriculum
planning process. However, the difficulty
of understanding contextual influences is
that they are constantly changing and are
unique to the programme, time, place and
the persons involved (Baporikar, 2016a).
Genesis of Student Centered Learning
Student-centred learning, as the term
suggests, is a method of learning or
teaching that puts the learner at the centre
(cf. MacHemer et al, 2007, p.9; Boyer,
1990). With the application of an SCL
approach in higher education, there is
necessarily a shift in focus from academic
teaching staff to the learner. Student
centered approach is undertaken to make
higher education programmes more
transparent and comparable and to bring in
mobility both to the students and staff. The
underlying and guiding principle is to
build an ethos of greater transparency
within higher education (Baporikar,
2017c). Placing greater emphasis on the
student, encouraging higher education
institutions (HEIs) and academic staff to
place students at the centre of their
thinking and to help them manage their
expectations, be able to consciously, and
constructively design their learning paths
throughout their higher education
experience is crucial in this dynamic and
volatile times (Baporikar, 2017c; 2017d).
This has necessitated a shift from mere
organisational input-oriented curricular
design, based on the description of course
content, to outcome-based higher
education. This has therefore resulted in a
re-thinking of higher education course
content in terms of learning outcomes;
making students more aware of what
skills, knowledge and competences they
can expect to develop through their studies
especially employability and life skills
(Baporikar, 2017b).
Employability is a combination of hard
skills (academic knowledge or IQ) and soft
skills that make graduates more likely to
gain employment and be successful in their
chosen occupation, which benefits
themselves, the workforce, the community
and the economy. For an employer,
employability of a candidate means his/her
capability, consistency and compatibility

Book: Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Book: Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

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Book: Internationalization of Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges