Internationalization in higher education beyond the Western horizon: critical perspectives

This article introduces the special issue, and together with it, addresses the development of a critical turn in studies of internationalization, seeking to highlight its two major issues. First, it has tended to employ a narrow range of theoretical and analytical perspectives, and second, it has been limited in its empirical and geographical scope. A central argument is that, in order to understand internationalization in the context of a rapidly changing, increasingly multipolar world, the study of internationalization processes must itself reflect the increasing complexity of the global political economy in conceptual and spatial terms. This special issue brings together scholars working across a range of geographical, political and institutional contexts to interrogate how internationalization is conceived and practiced beyond the Western horizon.