The development of a reflective tool for internationalisation of the curriculum

Abstract

Internationalisation of the curriculum focuses on the purposeful development of students’ inter-cultural skills. This can be done through a range of approaches within and outside the curriculum. This article outlines the development of a reflective tool used within the author’s university, and designed to enhance academic staff’s understanding of internationalisation, and to gauge the opportunities for students to develop inter-cultural understanding within their curricula. The tool was based on 10 questions covering a range of initiatives that academic staff could embed into their curricula for this purpose. The questions themselves are examined for synergy with the prevailing literature, and the utility of the hierarchical structure used for the tool is discussed.