Internationalisation at Home in the Irish Context- A PhD Study

In Irish third-level education, traditionally, a small minority of students have benefited from an international mobility experience as part of their studies through international exchanges, Erasmus programmes, etc. Since most students are not able to access mobility opportunities, Internationalisation at Home (IaH) helps them build their global competencies at their home institution. IaH seeks to provide international and intercultural learning to the majority who cannot take advantage of the mobility opportunities due to socio-economic, physical, or personal circumstances or a lack of interest or awareness about IaH, 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 has been a strong emphasis on the need for IaH through the curriculum in the Department of Education and Skills International Education Strategy for Ireland 2016-20, where internationalisation has primarily been focused on international student recruitment and student mobility.

In light of the above background, the postgraduate researcher will present her PhD study, funded by the Irish Research Council, on ‘Embedding a culture of internationalisation into the curriculum through “Internationalisation at Home (IaH)” in the changing context of Higher Education in Ireland.’ This presentation will encompass the background context of internationalisation in Ireland and a snapshot of the researcher’s project, emphasising the power of IaH in fostering global competencies among third-level students in Ireland.