The effectiveness of internationalizing higher education on students’ global competence development in Greece

Abstract

Internationalization is one of the features and dimensions that mostly characterize the modern higher education (HE) policy agenda at a national, European and global level. There are numerous internationalization practices and approaches applied by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Greece. Those practices can bring a positive outcome in the development of “global competence” of their students and graduates in terms of equipping them with the most needed skills and competences for 21st century knowledge-based economy, global labor market and multicultural societies. OECD-PISA has created the “Global Competence Framework” in order to assesses the global competence. In this Master thesis, the aim was to examine the effects of internationalization programmes on the development of specific features (skills, knowledge, and attitudes included in PISA Framework) of students and graduates global competence (GC) in Greek HEIs. A total of four hundred and thirty-five questionnaires were analyzed after being completed by active students or recent graduates in Greece. The findings of the field-research led us to significant results and conclusions regarding the impact of such programmes in shaping globally competent citizens. In particular, we found out that Internationalization practices in HE (both abroad and at home) have produced an increase on students’ global skills, such as adaptability, awareness of intercultural communication, engagement regarding global issues, global mindedness, awareness about environmental protection, and awareness about gender equality. All those skills assessed by the new OECD metric tool are also in line with SDGs and the UN 2030 Agenda. Finally, the findings demonstrated the correlation between global competence and internationalization of HE emphasizing on the importance of incorporation international and global dimensions into the HEIs curricula.