Numbers and structures don't equal internationalization

A study of internationalization in UK institutions reveals that the proportion of international students doesn't necessarily result in constructive interaction across cultural groups. Nor does interaction across cultural groups necessarily result in enhancement of cross-national interaction and workplace skills that employers are asking higher education to deliver. The study cited Gordon Alport's "contact theory" and proposed that, in order for students to learn across culture and grow in their appreciation of each other, four conditions are necessary - equal status, common goals, institutional support, and perception of similarity across groups. Perhaps internationalization educators should return to some of these early (1950s) ideas about what it takes for groups, and individuals within them, to learn from each other - resulting in students who graduate with the world-wise dispositions to be effective.