Internationalisation at Rhodes
Internationalisation is the process of integrating an international dimension into the research, teaching and service functions of an institution of higher education. Internationalisation at Rhodes is important for a variety of reasons. International scholarship is a key element of Rhodes' Mission. Rhodes staff, both academic and management, have strong relations with the international academic community. And the number of foreign students at Rhodes has grown remarkably.
Roughly 20-25% of Rhodes students are international students. These students form a complex group of degree-seeking undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as short-term exchange and study abroad students.
Since 2004, the Dean or Director of the International Office has been appointed to develop and support internationalisation at Rhodes. The Dean/Director's brief is to report to the Vice-Chancellor and the Internationalisation Committee of Senate, to develop the internationalisation strategy at Rhodes within the guidelines of the Internationalisation Policy, and to manage the International Office.
Why does Rhodes take internationalisation seriously?
The short answer is that Rhodes takes internationalisation seriously because it has become one of the key indicators of the quality of a university. Internationalised universities are better universities. If you want to have a look at the 200 universities in the world, go to http://www.arwu.org/.
The longer answer can be found in the Internationalisation Policy. Universities internationalise for basically two reasons:
- because of the economic benefits (vast numbers of students are now highly mobile and can go to where they get the best educational deal - universities in Australia and Europe are heavily into this market) or
- because of the educational and cultural benefits (the ideal of global understanding and citizenship) Rhodes focuses on.
We do not actively market to attract international students.
Why should I take internationalisation seriously?
Magnet Communications did a survey for the Sunday Times on what students want from an employer (Sunday Times, December 4 2005) and reported that ‘overall, international career opportunities and a life-work balance are the two most important goals’. Obviously no company is going to offer you opportunities in the rest of the world, if your CV and general attitude show that you have the mindset of someone from a dorp. So, one answer is: take internationalisation very seriously and get it into your CV! Another answer - as important as the first - is that the big wide world is an interesting place and foreigners are often fascinating. Since that world and those foreigners are directly involved in your own life, you better work to understand them. If you are South African, a good place to begin is right on campus: the rich variety of people offers a unique opportunity.
Who drives internationalisation at Rhodes?
The Director: International Office does. She works with academics, administrators and students to develop all kinds of projects: new exchange agreements with international partner institutions; events and lectures on campus; changes to the curriculum; links with professional bodies, and so on. She reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor. The current Director is Ms Orla Quinlan.
How internationalised is Rhodes?
The Internationalisation Quality Review (2001) and the University Audit (2005) show that Rhodes is internationalised to a surprising degree. One of the important indicators is the percentage of full-time degree seeking international students, both undergraduate and postgraduate: for some years now students from the SADC countries and the rest of Africa and the world have made up roughly 20-25% of the student body. This is above both South African and international benchmarks. Every year Rhodes hosts about 35 short-term exchange and study abroad students per semester from predominantly the US, Canada, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Australia. There is a steady flow of academic visitors to the campus and of Rhodes staff and students going abroad. Rhodes academics have very strong links with colleagues and programmes in the rest of the world. Rhodes is a truly international, and not only a regional or national, university.
The latest statistics on internationalisation at Rhodes can be found in the Digest of Statistics.
