Decolonising and re-imagining the concept of the international academic

Abstract This conceptual paper problematises the notion of the ‘international academic’, a phrase that is strongly influenced by a post-colonial legacy. It is a term of prestige based almost entirely on an academic’s de jure race, nationality or citizenship rather than a person’s de facto international scholarly reputation. In order to decolonise the concept, it is argued that objective criteria, including citation data, and esteem markers such as keynotes and doctoral examining undertaken internationally, should be applied in respect to identifying ‘international academics’ rather than relying on criteria that exclusively reference nationality or citizenship. Using Merton’s concept of locals and cosmopolitans, it is further contended that institutions should focus on identifying and nurturing ‘cosmopolitans at home’ as part of their internationalisation strategies, home born and educated scholars who can be encouraged to develop a strong international reputation, rather than over-relying on recruiting foreign born academics many of whom are, in effect, ‘locals from abroad’. This implies that universities seeking to internationalise need to pay more attention to developing the international orientation of early career academics and review reward and promotion systems, especially at the full professorial level, to place more emphasis on international rather than local or national criteria.