THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONALIZATION THEORY IN U.S. INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: CREATING A MORE INTERNATIONALIZED ENVIRONMENT VIA THE VIRTUAL SPACE IN SMALL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

With the efforts made by higher education professional associations, the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association for Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA) to graduate more students who have an international perspective and deeper cultural competency, only 2% of American bachelor’s degree students engage in an education abroad program where they foster such competencies through their interaction with different cultures. Therefore, campus internationalization, starting with recruiting international students (ISs), is fundamental and requires American Higher Education Institutions (AHEIs) to either adopt the Australian model of recruiting students through agents or send representatives to participate in international fairs. However, this may be restricted to large universities with good budget because this is not possible in small public universities due to budget limitations. One way to reach ISs is through the virtual space (VS), which became exceptionally important during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in multiple settings, such as HEIs. Accordingly, this study examined the effectiveness of the VS as a medium of communication for ISs to communicate with American faculty and staff (AFSs) to gather information about the application process, and for AFSs to learn about ISs’ challenges and barriers. The researcher utilized qualitative methodology and employed data triangulation of four data sources from two platforms: an FB group page and a Zoom webinar. Thus, the data sources are observations of the interaction of Jordanian students (JSs), AFSs, and Jordanian Faculty (JFs) in the FB group; semi structured interviews with four AFSs, four JFs, and seven JSs; a pre-webinar questionnaire (47 responses); and observations of JSs in a Zoom webinar. This study offers numerous recommendations, one of which is institutional leadership to connect different offices and departments together, instead of working in silos, to ensure the inclusion of everybody (AFSs, and even students), and incorporating internationalization into the leadership and structure, curriculum and co-curriculum, partnerships, mobility, institutional commitment, and policy, all of which are related to the ACE model for CI. Institutional leadership is important to establish and maintain a culture that values internationalization which requires several considerations, such as time and financial resources, preparation, and buy-in at all levels.