How Are We to Understand the 'Intercultural Dimension'? An Examination of the Intercultural Dimension of Internationalisation in the Context of Higher Education in Australia

The internationalisation of education has become a major focus of international, national and institutional attention, reflected in a substantial and expanding literature on how internationalisation is manifested, how it might be promoted, its implications for areas such as government policy, strategic planning and management, educational quality, student mobility, teaching and learning, and the place of language and culture in teaching and learning. There is also general agreement in the literature on the need for internationalisation to include an "intercultural dimension". In this paper, we examine how we are to understand the "intercultural dimension" in higher education. Our approach is based on an analysis of current constructions of this dimension, to argue that these constructions are neither individually nor in combination capable of meeting the challenge of internationalisation. Drawing on recent studies undertaken at the University of South Australia, we propose culture as "intercultural" as an alternative construction. (Contains 1 figure and 2 endnotes.)