The Drive and Nature of Internationalization of Higher Education in Zambia

Abstract

While internationalisation of higher education is a topical issue in global scholarship, it attracts limited scholarly attention in the Zambian context. This article engages with the drive and nature of internationalisation of higher education in Zambia. Informed by a descriptive multi-site case study of six higher education institutions (public and private) in which data were collected through document analysis, interviews and questionnaires, the article shows that internationalisation was largely motivated by economic, academic, and social and cultural factors. While limited and constrained, it was characterised by student and staff mobility, teaching and learning resources, and research and collaboration, with the context of Zambian higher education shaping the motives for and nature of internationalisation. The article also argues that limited funding had implications for the internationalisation of higher education in Zambia.