Internationalisation of The Professoriate : A World Challenge

Today we described about Internationalization with Prof. Tony (Anthony Welch). Resumed from his lesson, internationalization comprises many facts includings student flows, staff mobility, interntionalization of curriculum, and administration. Internatinalization in here not only talked about curriculum but also academic staff that less well researched but becoming more important. In some countries, like China, programmes are often now developed to capture international student market, for example MBA Program that taught in English. At there, MoE mandated that 10% of courses should be taught in English, while incentives are being offered to staff who can teach in English. That is true, once we ready to be internationalized, staff must be educated internationally. That is why the word peripatteti comes up. Peripatetic is mobile teacher. In the Book 1 of Confucius Analects : To have schoolfellows come from distant states -is it not a pleasure?. Confusius himself moved around different parts of what s now China, with some of his students. It also having been known that several important philosophers and teachers, as well as key parts of mediaeval knowledge, came from the brightest still travel to Al Azhar (as they have for centuries).
However, The International Survey of The Academic Profession showed that more men then women gained the opportunity to work overseas. Men have larger opportunities in travelling and studying overseas. In East Asia, the pattern is much the same.
International research active staff who can teach in English will be in great demand, particularly from giant systems such as China and India. How about Indonesia? In my opinion, Indonesia has the same large opportunities as China and India. There have been so many staff studying abroad both men and women and being good professional staff. However, the system in Indonesia sometimes rather unsatisfying for staff t develop. For example, the salary of one lecturer in public university is just enough to live. No wonder if we see many lectures be peripatetic, taught more in private intitutes rather than in public institute. Yet, we still have broadly opportuunities in making our education internationally and Indonesia must support in this way since interntionalization becomes a profound change and challenge for the academic profession, worldwide in the global era. That is why it becomes our challenge to deal with.

(Tuesday, 2 Dec 2008)

Lecturer by : Prof. Anthony Welch