Times change: change the university? “Cuadermos de Pedagogia” 2010 Internationalization of the university Meeri Hellstén, Södertörn University, Sweden Modern advancements in the world have caused swift measures of adaptation to which the higher education system has not been immune. To some extent the global changes have been slow appearing in the tertiary education sector due to its set customs. Historically, universities have enjoyed a ruling social tradition made possible by its intellectual power, economic security, and a fine measure of collective good-will. The teaching philosophy of the traditional university has rested upon a borderless pursuit of (higher) knowledge which reaches across national and cultural boundaries. However, the insistence of the social and cultural transformations imposed by globalization has required a rethinking of even the most traditional of learning establishments. The result is evident in a rapid and rationalist development of internationalization of higher education, as many would argue, in response to global market needs that increasingly shape education as a commodity. It is fair to state that the idealistic resting pillars of international education are mobility, diversity, inclusion and harmony. This paper discusses these in relation to the current ongoing changes that place demands on the university. The article begins by placing internationalization of education in a historical social context, followed by a discussion of some of the meanings of the term in a global perspective. In light of the global issues to which internationalization has attempted to provide solutions, the paper further highlights some current examples of implementation and directs our gaze toward possible futures. The university as an institution is not alien to the concept of mobility. Marginson (2006) states that in line with the early spirit of discovery of knowledge, established universities looked favourably upon the visiting foreign scholar. The broader sharing of universal progress in knowledge acquisition and innovation has in higher education always been considered more significant than any ethnic and racial confines of human interaction. From the travelling scholar perspective then, universities have always been ‘international spaces’. What distinguishes the modern higher education climate from the past is the sheer amount of inter-cultural exchanges grown over a relatively short time span (Hellstén, 2007), and this has in some cases brought on noteworthy challenges to set educational conventions (Hellstén & Reid, 2008; Ninnes & Hellstén, 2005). The rise of English as a world language has been a deciding mobilization factor which has to some extent influenced the ‘south to north’ educational movement referred to by Altbach and Knight (2007). By this they mean that the global trend caters for human capital development in the striving for upward social mobility in which the wealthier nations of the ‘geographical north’ reap the most benefit and with the English speaking nations in the lead. For the past 30 years internationalization has been most lucrative in the English speaking OECD countries. Of these Australia has made international education into a commercial success story, making this enterprise the fourth largest export industry nationally (Adams, 2007). While the industry has made a slight decline in the wake of the recent world economic downturn, it is estimated that the enterprise increases considerably in the next 20 year period. Cite as: Hellstén, M. (2010). Internacionalizar la Universidad. [Internationalization of the university] Cuadermos de Pedagogia, Cambian los tiempos, ¿cambia la Universidad?, J. and Hernandez, F. (Eds.) Cuadermos de Pedagogia, 403, July, Spain. Los pilares idealistas en los que descansa la educación internacional son la movilidad, la diversidad, la inclusión y la armonía. A la luz de ellos, la autora analiza las nuevas exigencias que afronta la universidad y sitúa la internacionalización de la educación en un contexto histórico social. (Original in Spanish) 1