Promoting the Use of Internationalisation at Home Pedagogic Practices: The Approach, Process, Challenges and Support Required by Business School Academics

This thesis is concerned with the use of Internationalisation at Home (IaH) pedagogic practices used throughout the compulsory curriculum in a business school. More specifically, the study aims to explore the change process and approach that engages the majority of business school academics to encompass IaH pedagogic practices within their modules. While most business school academics are required to engage in IaH pedagogic practices to include the whole student body, they often lack the practical support to do so. Previous research engaged a minority of business school academics and failed to utilise a whole business school means of engaging the majority.

This study’s methodology prioritised academics’ voices by combining the social constructivist methods of semi-structured interviews with eight Directors of Internationalisation or Internationalisation Champions in business schools, with a novel world café research method that developed and utilised an online format and included twenty-six business academics. The online world café format provided a methodological contribution that promoted participant diversity. Fusing business and education discourse, the theoretical framework was used as a lens for thematic analysis.

The research identified an appropriate change management approach and process, and the challenges and support required to engage the majority of UK business school academics in using IaH pedagogic practices. The findings revealed an approach that identified the role of key stakeholders in the process, to engage a majority of academics. Five elements emerged in the change process, beginning with Awareness of the Need and culminating in Sustaining the Change, and included concurrent elements, such as Communication. Time constraints, maturity in age and limited understanding of IaH were key challenges to academic engagement. Interactive interdisciplinary and disciplinary training, student partnerships and time within workloads were considered paramount.

The conceptual framework developed for Engaging the Majority of Business School Academic Staff in using IaH is well placed to support the implementation of IaH pedagogic practices in a business school to enrich the learning process for all parties. The thesis contributes an explanation of how the Middle-Out approach can be utilised within a business school to engage academics in using IaH pedagogic practices. It extends knowledge to the current field, through indication of academics’ differing levels of engagement in IaH, their subsequent involvement in the change process, and the identification of Internationalisation Champions in foregrounding the process. Furthermore, four types of challenges and support concerning individual academics are identified and explored.