Abstract
Looking through the history of higher education in Zimbabwe, we argue that the concept of internationalization of higher education is not new to Zimbabwe. Understandings, manifestations, and processes of the phenomenon over time are examined to reveal the nuances of the internationalization process in its current mode of occurrence, in an attempt to not only understand it in its colonial and postcolonial manifestation but to situate it within a wider decolonial project. Using a decolonial lens, this article explores various processes of internationalization in Zimbabwe’s higher education institutions (HEIs), viewing them either as continuities or disruptions. In so doing, we argue that for internationalization in Zimbabwe’s HEIs to fully deliver on its promises, it needs to not only engage with the issues of colonial(ism/ity) but also to understand its particular specificity in the Zimbabwean society, and the effects that this continues to have on internationalization attempts.
Highlights
The leading authors in the field of the internationalization of higher education have long stressed that there is no simple, all-encompassing definition of internationalization
This article adds to the growing literature looking at what emerges when discourses and practices of internationalization are considered through a coloniality lens (e.g., Heleta, 2016; Majee & Ress, 2020; Mok, 2007; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015)
We look at the case of Zimbabwean higher education institutions (HEIs)
Summary
The leading authors in the field of the internationalization of higher education have long stressed that there is no simple, all-encompassing definition of internationalization. We note that internationalization is not new to Zimbabwe and that current manifestations inevitably are grounded in this protointernationalized history This history cannot be separated from a colonial experience and legacy. Majee and Ress (2020) have attempted to conceptualize internationalization efforts in the context of historical particularities of the postcolonial condition, looking at the case of South Africa and Brazil; they argue that internationalization of higher education pays less attention to how legacies of colonial expansion impose unique demands on universities. We begin by reflecting on Zimbabwe’s colonial history and in particular its impact on higher education. This leads us to a discussion of notions of coloniality and how this is distinct from colonialism. Within what Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2013) refers to as an existing “global colonial matrix of power.”
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