Proving, improving and (dis)approving internationalisation of higher education

Answers to Non English Speaking Background (NESB) international students' issues with the Higher Education curriculum in western universities are inadequate and the solutions to many of their problems are usually just improvisations rather than improvements. Studying and proving the academic adjustment issues of many NESB international students at my university and making efforts to improving their plight, I have reached a juncture of trepidation. In my research and in my work as a Learning Skills Advisor I have begun to realise that the situation especially related to post-graduate NESB international students' is beyond the "proving and improving" role of research and scholarship. In many cases internationalisation of Higher Education seems to be an eyewash to secure the economic interests of western universities and to uphold the superiority of western imperialism. An intercultural dimension to teaching and learning practices would be inept and superfluous if the curriculum designers do not reconsider the course, subject and assessment outcomes in relation to the prior language, knowledge and skills of those students whose very presence gives the international dimension to western universities. It seems that to bring true internationalisation involving all students requires a complete sea change to the very philosophy of the internationalisation of Higher education.