Universitas: Why Higher Education Must Be International

This discussion is triggered by the publication of Universitas. Why Higher Education Must Be International, a new book that unites the voices of scholars from around the globe in a plea to embrace and improve the internationalization of higher education, to combat parochialism, to foster a critical globalist ethos, and to defend the quality of teaching and research. The authors have themselves followed international trajectories, across different parts of the world. At the same time, all are now settled academics who have been observing the relevant trends in their work environments and have been actively involved in managing them. This evening, we focus on the situation in the Netherlands. Why do we see a backlash against international higher education here? Is it justified? How can we better address the challenges internationalization poses? The discussion includes the book’s authors who are settled in the Netherlands as well as relevant political decision-makers.  

About the Speakers:

 Annette Freyberg-Inan is professor of international relations theory at the University of Amsterdam and has been dean of its Graduate School of Social Sciences. The initiator and editor of the Universitas project, she researches and teaches in the fields of International Political Economy, International Relations, European Politics, Political Theory, and Social Science Methodology.

Maggi W.H. Leung is professor in international development studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the uneven geographies of migration, mobilities and development, internationalization of education and labor regimes, knowledge and skill (im)mobilities, Chinese transnationalism, investments and engagements for/by/with newcomers in “shrinking” regions in Europe as well activism against racialized injustice.

Gery Nijenhuis is associate professor of geography and education at Utrecht University. Her research interests focus on international migration and development, on learning from experiential forms of education, such as fieldwork and community-engaged learning, and on geography education in secondary schools.

Brian Burgoon (moderator) is Professor of International and Comparative Political Economy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He received his PhD from MIT in 1998, and between 1998 to 2000 was Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He joined the UvA faculty in 2000, and served as Academic Director of the UvA’s Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) from 2014 till December 2020. Burgoon’s research focuses on global economic integration; social policy and welfare state development; and democratic political representation.