12-01, 12:30–13:00 (Europe/Berlin), Stage 3 (Lovelace), WiFo
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted internationalisation activities of universities around the globe. At the same time, it has served as an accelerator of innovation, particularly regarding moving teaching, learning, research and community engagement activities online.
Sharing perspectives from South Africa, where higher education is characterised by resource constraints and inequalities, this presentation will explore how digitalisation can help us reimagine internationalisation practices in higher education. It will show that virtual exchanges and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) have an important role to play in advancing higher education internationalisation in more equitable and inclusive ways, thereby extending the benefits of international engagements beyond the select few.
Dr Samia Chasi is a practitioner, scholar and facilitator in higher education internationalisation. She is currently the Manager: Strategic Initiatives, Partnership Development and Research at the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) and a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. She is passionate about facilitating deeper understanding and connections between diverse people and institutions by creating spaces for critical engagement and constructive dialogue. Her research interests lie in Global South perspectives on higher education internationalisation, with a particular focus on South-North collaboration and partnerships. Dr Chasi has more than 20 years of experience in international education through positions in international offices of German and South African universities, an agency of the European Commission as well as representations of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Nuffic and the British Council in South Africa.