International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
Placing students at the heart of internationalisation strategy - Part 2 Posted on by Vicky Lewis
This is the second of two blogs drawing on my recent presentation at the Irish Association for International Education conference in Limerick on 11 June 2026.
In Part 1, I propose three distinctive characteristics of a student-centred internationalisation strategy.
Each requires the flipping of a university’s traditional strategic emphasis:
This second blog sets out some recommendations for anyone seeking to drive or support development of an internationalisation strategy which places students at its heart.
As mentioned in the first blog, the early stages of strategy development provide an opportunity for deep thinking about institutional purpose. Applying a student-centred lens to this thinking (e.g. by reflecting on the emphasis flips listed above) can stimulate fresh perspectives and tease out what’s really driving internationalisation.
Of course, clarifying purpose is much easier if the organisational culture is conducive to open debate about the challenges and opportunities of internationalisation, and if senior leaders are actively engaged in such debates.
Several participants in the survey highlighted barriers to doing this (ranging from external expectations to internally fragmented or hierarchical structures). And it’s important to start with what’s possible, rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach. Where it’s not feasible to effect system change and influence institutional strategy, there may still be opportunities to apply a purposeful student-centred approach at local level, or to pilot it with specific projects.
Interpretations of ‘student-centred’ and ‘internationalisation’ differ – and some people can be put off by the terms themselves, dismissing them as jargon or meaningless buzz-words.
So it’s helpful to establish a clear, agreed definition of what a student-centred approach to internationalisation means in your particular context. This requires demystification of the terminology. You could frame discussions around concepts that resonate more directly with key stakeholders, such as:
Involving students as co-creators was highlighted by survey participants as a key distinguishing feature of student-centred strategy.
It’s important to recognise and tap into the breadth and diversity of input available from:
This means engaging in effective consultation by facilitating representation frameworks, feedback mechanisms, focus groups, student advisory groups, peer-to-peer engagement, and close collaboration with Student Unions.
It also means reaching out to minority students and those whose voices are quieter, deploying a range of channels – beyond the formal representative structures.
The UK’s student-led UKCISA #WeAreInternational Student Charter includes some helpful guiding principles and, although it’s drafted from the perspective of the international student body, most of these can be applied equally well to the whole student community.
It’s essential to involve staff from faculties and professional services as agents of change. Galvanising staff is a cornerstone of the student-centred approach. They mustn’t feel as if their needs, experiences and insights are being deprioritised as a result of the focus on students.
In contrast, a student-centred approach depends on staff being convinced of the positive impact that embracing global learning and diverse perspectives can have on their own practice – and experience – as teachers, researchers or professionals. Compelling answers are needed to the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question.
Similarly, it’s important to demonstrate how a student-centred approach to internationalisation supports other key institutional strategies – e.g. learning and teaching, student experience, research and innovation, social responsibility, sustainability. If it’s integrated into these other strategies, it’s much more likely to stick.
Being student-centred means prioritising equity and access. I’ll illustrate this with an example.
An Australian survey respondent highlighted their institution’s ‘flexible global mobility scholarship scheme, which allows students to choose how they incorporate a global experience into their studies’.
The original scheme was revised on the basis of student feedback to allow scholars to use funding for a wide range of alternative global enrichment activities in their final year if they had been unable to pursue a mobility experience to date – perhaps as a result of curricular or timetabling constraints, or due to caring responsibilities or employment commitments.
It needs to become automatic for us to ask the question: Does this decision / approach exclude anyone who might otherwise benefit or contribute? And, if so, how can we change that?
It’s helpful to supplement the usual institutional success metrics (enrolments, rankings etc.) with ones that focus on the quality and impact of student experiences, measuring things like:
National and institutional context and drivers matter (and generally make a difference to the scope of what you can achieve). However some themes from the survey (which drew on insights from across six continents) were seen as pretty much universally relevant, such as:
And the way a strategy is created is as important as its content.
An inclusive and iterative process, characterised by reflection, dialogue and feedback, helps to build legitimacy and momentum, beginning the cultural shift that the strategy itself seeks to embed.
The first of these two blogs generated some very astute and constructive feedback on LinkedIn (for which many thanks), and it would be great to read your comments on this one too.
I may even develop key themes from the commentary into a third blog post.
And there is much more detail to come in Professor Elspeth Jones' and Dr Ravi Ammigan's forthcoming book: Jones E. & Ammigan R. (2026). Student-Centred Internationalisation: Policy, Strategy and Practice. Routledge.
STUDENT-CENTRED STRATEGY INTERNATIONALISATION IAIE CONFERENCE
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