Infographic: South African universities need more internationalisation

Higher Education South Africa (HESA) met with their oversight committee in Parliament last week to deliberate the internationalisation of higher education; that is, whether an appropriate balance between local and international students and staff should be achieved in South Africa, and the benefits resulting from such internationalisation.

HESA identifies the advantages of bringing in international students and staff as:

• Improving quality of teaching, learning, and research.
• Increasing competition among students
• Deepening engagement with national, regional, and global issues and stakeholders.
• Granting access for students to programmes that are unavailable or scarce in their home countries.
• Enhancing opportunities for academic staff improvement, and decreasing the risk of academic - in-breeding.
• Promoting skilled migration for highly specialised occupations in South Africa
• South Africa could exploit its brand value as a destination for international students

HESA states that international students make up only 7.5% of the South African university student body, compared to other Higher Education systems which can have up to 30% international students.

However, there are many constraints to internationalisation.

• It would result in less space for South African students, increasing pressure on university access.
• Immigration regulations are not favourable to internationalisation
• Insufficient funding to foster joint research collaboration
• There is an absence of a broader internationalisation policy framework for the university sector

In response to these constraints, HESA recommends that the following changes need to be made in order to boost internationalisation:

• Review immigration regulations
• Increase funding for scholarships

Moreover, HESA argues that increased internationalisation will help shift global perceptions about Africa, making it a destination of learning for international students.

However, Dr. Adam Habib, chairperson of HESA, notes that increased internationalisation could have adverse effects for transformation, with the possibility of academic posts being taken by foreign professors. This would make it harder for local academics to get posts, argues Dr. Habib, saying that HESA needs to find a balance between recruiting foreigners and promoting local academics and students.

HESA Vice-Chairperson, Dr. Max Price, makes the point that South African universities need to increase funding for international scholarships and make their PhD scholarships more attractive if they want to attract the best students, arguing that universities are competing in a global market in which many other institutions pay better, thus the need for funding to realise the benefits of internationalisation.