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Internationalisation and Religious Inclusion in U nited K ingdom Higher Education
Author(s) -
Stevenson Jacqueline
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/hequ.12033
Subject(s) - ethos , inclusion (mineral) , internationalization , multiculturalism , sociology , higher education , identity (music) , pedagogy , kingdom , islam , internationalization of higher education , currency , gender studies , political science , law , aesthetics , paleontology , philosophy , theology , monetary economics , economics , biology , microeconomics
Although not new, the concept of internationalisation, the inclusion of intercultural perspectives and the development of cross‐cultural understanding, has gained particular currency and support across the U nited K ingdom ( UK ) higher education sector over the last decade. However, within the academic literature, as well as within institutional policy and practice, there has been little disaggregation of the concept of ‘culture’; rather there appears to be a tacit belief that all aspects of students' cultures should be valued and ‘celebrated’ on campus. Through the stories told by fifteen S ikh, M uslim, J ewish and C hristian students studying at a UK post‐1992 university the paper highlights the ways in which religion, a fundamental aspect of the cultural identity, values and practices of many students, is rarely recognised or valorised on campus. This lack of recognition can act to ‘other’, marginalise and isolate students and thus undermine the aims of internationalisation, in particular cross‐cultural understanding. The paper concludes by arguing that religion should be considered within debates around internationalisation so that all students are represented within a multicultural institutional ethos and to ensure meaningful cross‐cultural engagement for all students.