The aim of the seminar is to promote dialogue, sharing and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the area of Global Citizenship Education. It will focus on the challenges and opportunities that the internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) agenda poses for Global Citizenship Education and will touch on the opportunity to contribute to work on promoting gender and valuing of diverse identities in the context of rising identity-based politics. 

What we now term 'internationalisation of higher education' is a phenomenon that has emerged over the last 25 years or so, referring to the process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful contribution to society. 

Internationalisation is now driving the reform of higher education. It has become a broad umbrella term that covers many dimensions including credit and degree mobility for students, academic exchange and the search for global talent, curriculum development and learning outcomes, franchise operations and branch campuses, for both cooperation and competition. While the agenda has significant potential benefits (especially its potential to make higher education more inclusive and equitable), it also carries significant risks. 

IoHE is being challenged by increasingly profound social, economic and cultural issues, such as the financial crisis, unfavourable demographic trends, hostile reactions to immigration and ethnic and religious tensions. While these challenges represent a threat, they also raise our awareness of the importance of IoHE in developing a meaningful response. There is now a major challenge and opportunity for Global Citizenship Education to position itself as a pillar of ethical or responsible internationalisation and to make a meaningful contribution to work on promoting gender and valuing of diverse identities in the context of rising identity-based politics.

Key questions are: 

Join them for what promises to be a rich and challenging conversation amongst a diverse group of researchers, educators and others interested in global justice issues, global citizenship and the role of higher education. The conversation will include Mona Mehta and Clarissa Jordao who are doing exciting work in the areas of teaching, research and activism in India and Brazil.

The event is free but you must register in advance with  joanne@suas.ie. 

About the facilitators:  

Clarissa Menezes Jordão holds a PhD in Literary Education at Universidade Federal do Paraná in Brazil. She currently teaches EFL at undergraduate level and Applied Linguistics at graduate level at UFPR, Brazil. Her main research interests are in the areas of teacher education, critical literacy in EFL and post-structuralist theories on language and meaning-making. 

Mona Mehta holds a PhD. in Development Studies and has been working on women's rights and gender equality for many years with Oxfam GB across different parts of the world. She coordinated the We Can Campaign that aimed to transform social attitudes around violence against women. She is currently engaged in programmes aimed at mobilising young people to counter intolerance and violence based on identities (gender, religion, ethnicity, race etc). 

Dr Su-ming Khoo teaches and researches at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her interests include postcolonial development studies, public advocacy and activism, human rights and the ethics of higher education.

Joanne Malone works for Suas Educational Development, which aims to support students to progressively engage with global justice issues through an integrated programme of non-formal learning activities that is currently delivered in 7 higher education institutions in Ireland.