Celebrating diversity at home: Embedding a culture of Internationalisation at Home in Irish HEIs

Traditionally, only a minority of students in Irish third-level education have had the opportunity to participate in international mobility experiences such as international exchanges and Erasmus programmes. This leaves most students without access to such opportunities. Internationalisation at Home (IaH) aims to address this disparity by providing students with global competencies right at their home institution. IaH is designed to offer international and intercultural learning to all students, including those who cannot take advantage of mobility opportunities due to various socio-economic, physical, personal, or other reasons. This approach is defined as 'the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments' (Beelen & Jones, 2015).

There is an increasing recognition of the importance of IaH in promoting 'Global Citizenship'.. This is evident in the Talent and Innovation Strategy 'Global Citizens 2030,' published by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in Ireland. While IaH is acknowledged as a valuable tool for leveraging and celebrating diversity at home and for cultivating global citizenship, the focus has been primarily on increasing revenue through recruiting international students and talent. Despite including IaH in the strategy, there is a lack of a framework or guidance for its implementation. Furthermore, there is a need for research on how IaH can be effectively integrated into the culture of Irish HEIs for the benefit of all students.

To address this gap, the researcher's PhD, funded by the Irish Research Council, aims to investigate how a culture of IaH can be embedded in Irish HEIs in the evolving landscape of Higher Education in Ireland. This qualitative study is based on the interpretivist paradigm and involves conducting focus groups and interviews with different stakeholders. During this presentation, the researcher will provide an overview of their progress so far, highlighting how IaH can facilitate connections with diverse stakeholders and generate a broad impact through internationalisation. This impact includes heightened awareness of internationalisation among students and staff, innovative curriculum design, a diverse student body, and the preparation of students for global citizenship.