Reflections from an International Immerson Trip: New Possibilities to Institutionalize Curriculum‪.‬

One of the main challenges confronted by higher education as we enter the 21st century is to internationalize its programs and to make students more globally competent (Childress, 2009; Gacel-Avila, 2005; Hunter, White,&Godbey, 2006). This challenge is not new, but it has become increasingly complex. Gutek (1993) explains how the efforts to internationalize the university in the United States became particularly important in the second part of the 20th century. Set against the background of the cold war and the desire of promoting capitalism, this effort was initially articulated as the implementation of university partnerships and collaborative programs with institutions abroad for the purpose of providing economic and educational assistance to other countries. Consistent with this ideological goal, Gutek illustrates how "[m]any American universities engaged in overseas developmental projects that were designed to create new economic, political, and educational infrastructure, in host countries" (p. 11). As Gutek also explains, groups that sought to prioritize social and cultural aspects such as peace and global education have challenged this perspective in recent decades. The current state of international education seems to be defined by these competing purposes and directions, to which we need to add the demand of the business community to prepare students to work in the "global marketplace" (Bonfiglio, 1999). Added to this geography of multiple and often opposing goals, international education has been tested by the need of addressing the negative consequences of globalization and promoting global citizenry (Lewin, 2009). While not an easy challenge, some authors have seen important possibilities in this space and invite us to reconsider the role of higher education. Gacel-Avila (2005), for example, states that