Curriculum Internationalization Experiences within a College of Engineering

Over the past several decades, higher education institutions throughout the United States and across the globe have continually sought ways to bring international perspectives on to their campuses, and into their classrooms. The rise of international education has proven advantageous for higher education institutions (HEI) administrations, faculties, and students. However, the process of internationalizing an institute is not formulaic, and different methods describe how best to approach each stage of the internationalization process. One particularly difficult stage in the internationalization process is internationalizing curriculum. Current literature dictates an HEI must take into account various contexts which affect and influence the process, to the point that even within an HEI, internationalizing curriculum integration efforts will vary between colleges and faculties. As institutions increasingly seek ways to provide global perspectives to students who may be unable to participate in education abroad programs, faculty play a critical role in incorportating international and intercultural dimensions into the classroom. This qualitative study utilized a case study design to explore the experiences of a single institution’s engineering college in their efforts to internationalize curriculum. Through interviews with engineering faculty members, the study examined faculty perceptions of internationalization, their role in implementing internationalized curriculum, and the role of the college in supporting these efforts. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how engineering faculty engage with curriculum internationalization and highlight factors that both support and hinder the integration of global perspectives within engineering education.