LE3 .A278 2007

2007

Perry, George

Acadia University

Master of Education

Masters

Leadership and School Development

Education

Acadia University has been active in the recruitment of international students for the past ten years. The presence of over 700 international students has dramatically changed Acadia's university campus and the surrounding community. The success of Acadia's international student recruitment efforts is partially reflective of global student mobility trends, as over the past twenty years, the size of the international student market has grown markedly, and is predicted to triple or quadruple again in the next fifteen years. This study asserts that the presence of so many international students has been driven by neoliberal forces and by market demands, much less by the desire to enrich and diversify post-secondary education and the University, or what is referred to in this study as "internationalization". "Globalization" has often meant the commodification of higher education. This study examines the extent to which this has occurred in one Canadian institution. This study has not found significant evidence to support the notion that Acadia has achieved success in genuine "internationalization"; rather, the university has succumbed to global market forces and demands. This study finds evidence to support the assertion that Acadia has not infused its academic and co-curricular programs or the general university student experience with international and diverse perspectives. This study provides a conceptual framework from which to understand the powerful forces of neo-liberalism and "globalization" and how they relate to higher education, organizational change, and the challenge of "internationalization", in particular, at Acadia University.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2722