The Challenge of Internationalization: An Institutional Perspective

The success of international student recruitment efforts in Canada is partially reflective of global student mobility trends, as over the past twenty years, the size of the international student market has grown markedly, and is predicted to triple in the next fifteen years. This study asserts that the presence of so many international students in Canada has been driven largely by neoliberal forces and by market demands, and much less by the desire to diversify post-secondary education, or what is referred to in this study as internationalization. Globalization has often meant the commodification of higher education. This study examines the extent to which this has occurred in one Canadian institution. This study has not found significant evidence to support the notion that Acadia University has achieved success in genuine internationalization; rather, the university has succumbed to global market forces and demands. This study provides a conceptual framework from which to understand the powerful forces of neo-liberalism and globalization and how they relate to higher education, organizational change, and the challenge of internationalization, in particular, at Acadia University.