This fall I am joining a pedagogical course on International and Collaborative Environment at the University of Helsinki (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/ya2internationalcollaborative/).
The goal of the course is to give us a better understanding of the challenges of internationalization, and diversity in our institutions and our classrooms. We are gonna discuss diverse topics related to this theme through both course meetings (N>30 plus teachers), and group meetings (N=4), through general lectures, discussions, personal reading and group exercises (blogs, …).
I am rather excited about this opportunity. The last few years I have been faced with a lot more diversity in my research and my classrooms, having now my own research group to manage and having taught in several different institutions (eg. Finland, Sweden, Cameroon, and online). I think having tools to better integrate the international character of my classrooms will allow me to grow as a teacher, and will allow me to improve the learning experience of my students.
Why the internationalization of the curriculum?
Universities are now international or at least they aim to be. For many, international students are an important source of income for the institutions, as the international members of the student pool often pay large fees for getting their degrees. I must know! I got my PhD from the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia. Without the support of my parents, and of my supervisor, who paid paying a couple of semesters fee, or helped me get a scholarship, respectively, I would have never been able to get my diploma there! It was expensive! But the facilities were amazing.
Whether a curriculum is free or costly depends on a prior decision from the country, the institution, or the course coordinators. In each case though, the decision makers will have the responsibility to make sure the students will actually get what they expect for their money: the top knowledge on their topic of choice! This knowledge is targeted because it will be showcased as a top skill to progress along a career ladder, and access top positions in the desired field, which in turn will allow to pay back the potential loan(s) accumulated through the studies. The international student pool is however extremely diverse for each welcoming country (i.e. England Universities get students from France, Spain, Finland, China, etc…), and the national language(s) is unlikely to accommodate the learning experience of all international students. Often, Universities rely on teaching in English, the ‘international language’, but here again, the ability of all students to speak English vary grandly between individuals. Furthermore, it is not only that the students might not be fully fluent in the language of teaching, but also that the students might not be aware of national ways of teaching, pedagogy, studying, or evaluation of the learning outcomes. In these conditions, international students might feel isolated; while the integration of the diverse cultural backgrounds in the teaching could easily support a wider pool of students (international and national) to access knowledge.
How far am I required to go or should I go in the internationalization of my teaching, and my research?
I have a course on insect symbiosis which I always start with a couple of slides showing my background and my history in Academia, from my Master studies in France, a research assistant position in the Pacific islands, a PhD in Australia, postdoc positions in Finland and Sweden, and finally starting my own group in Finland. I always thought of these slides as a way of showing my students there is no given international/national path to a career in Academia, and they should follow their interests and opportunities. When I taught in Yaounde, Cameroon, I was speaking through my lecture in English, but I made clear to my students that they were welcome to ask questions in French too, and they did, and I answered in French or/and English. When I received feedback from this course, some students were really grateful I offered both languages, as they acknowledged they gained more knowledge from using both languages!

Figure1: The triangle of abilities acquired by international experience (boarder crossing) as in the Erasmus impact study (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/sites/erasmusplus2/files/erasmus-impact_en.pdf).
But in Finland: I am not fluent in Finnish, I can understand some, and I manage in everyday life with my basic skills, but I would never be able to offer my Finnish or Swedish students to reply or understand their questions in their mother tongues. Taking language classes to improve my Finnish would take a large chunk of the time I could instead put into my own research, or into my own family or hobby time. Does my university requires some level of internationalization? Well, apparently despite the recent implementation of fees on international students at the University of Helsinki, there is no separate activity or strategy policy that demands internationalization of the curriculum. The University has implemented courses taught only in Finnish, Swedish or English, with some topics overlap sometimes, but not always. Meaning that international students are not able to study all subjects in English at the University of Helsinki. For some subject, teaching in the national language might anyway remain a priority (e.g. veterinary and medical science).
I hope this pedagogical course will allow me to truly improve internationalization in my institution, for a best integration of the beautiful diversity within my student pool and my research team in Finland (and any country where I can not speak the local language).