Internationalization of Estonian Higher Education (Research Proposal Sample)

Internationalization of Estonian Higher Education Student Name Instructor Course Date Abstract With the rise of globalization, there is necessity of institutions of higher education to become more international for the importance of operating effectively in the global education market. In addition, this calls for more students and scientists exchange. Due to that, international exchange has become an even more significant necessity for modern universities, top-quality research as well as innovation. The research paper will focus on case study of ten Turkish students studying at Tallinn University in Estonia. The purpose of the paper will be to determine the benefits that the foreign students, that is Turkish students, gain when studying at Estonian Universities. It will also determine the factors that motivate those students to apply for Universities in Estonia and also the strategies and techniques by which Estonian Universities use to motivate the students to come to Estonia to take their studies. Introduction Internationalization is regarded as the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions as well as deliverance of post-secondary education. Education internationalization is therefore, a process that is made up of two fundamental components, that is, internationalization at home, and international abroad. Internationalization at home is defined as the strategies and approaches used in developing activities that are of significance to students’ international understanding as well as intercultural skills. Internationalization abroad consists of cross-border mobility of students, teachers, scholars, programmes, curriculum, courses, projects and many other activities. National, regional as well as global forces that pressure universities to engage themselves and bring about attraction to the international scholars drive internationalization. Universities also engage and attract international students as the means of raising their reputation to international standards through engaging in reliable knowledge exchange with international partners. In the past few years, an analysis on how to move forward with internationalization has resurfaced in the academic community, with inclusion of stakeholders in expressing increased concern in the process of its evolvement as well as potential visions for future of internationalization. Additionally, several factors have restructured the internationalization conceptualization. For instance, the rationales for internationalization have diversified, which has led to new emerging challenges. The increasingly globalised world brings about certain implications specifically to higher education. Due to the increasing internationalization of education, various research articles point out certain challenges faced by the university systems. As analyzed by the Estonian Higher Education strategy 2005-2015, the Ministry of Education of Estonia, for instance, has made some acknowledgments that for several reasons, such as demographics, there is importance of planning an effective response to the demand for the internationalization of its university programs (Estonian Higher Education, 2006). Additionally, according to Orr, Gwosc and Netz (2011), in relation to the Euro-student report, the most prominent mobility of the students can steadily experience an increment for the reason that in the European Higher Education Area students such as Turkish students have had studies or training period abroad. Reputation in Estonia as a study center has been impacted by the becoming widespread information that is leading to increasing number of international students making a decision of studying in Estonia. On that point, Estonia is experiencing an increase in students originating from such exotic as well as sunny places such as the Mediterranean, Caribbean and South East Asia. There is also necessity of research on the certain challenges students experience in adjusting to the internationalization of higher education in the Estonian cultural context despite there being the necessity of research on managing the challenges of the internationalization of university level education in this State. Estonian universities consider different type of things in order to better facilitate the transition of its international students. Problem Statement As defined in the introduction of this proposal, internationalization is a process of making an introduction to the intercultural, international and global dimensions in regards to higher education for the significance of making an improvement to the goals, functions as well as delivery of higher education and with that to make an improvement on the quality of education and research. Internationalization is regarded as a goal in itself and therefore, it remains ad hoc and marginal. The problem here is that students do not just come to Estonia because they wish to come. However, they come to this country in order to look for quality and satisfying higher education. The reason behind this is that Estonia is known for its best provision of higher education. In Estonia, the Rector, who is accountable to the Council, runs higher education institutions. The Rector is responsible for the development of institutions of higher education. He/she is also responsible for the effective utilization of its financial recourses. The teaching staff in Estonian universities is made up of qualified professors, associate professors, lecturers, assistants and other qualified teachers. The research staff of those universities is made up of leading researchers, senior researchers, and researchers. The higher education institution may engage scholars or other prominent individuals with creativity or other outstanding experts as visiting teaching staff. These qualities are the most significant factors that attract most of the foreign students especially from Turkish to join Estonian universities. These students find that universities in their local countries lack most of qualities and therefore, they come up with the decision of joining the Estonian universities. These universities in turn ensure that the foreign students as well as those from Estonia are all satisfied with education through provision of all necessary and quality teaching. For the importance of escaping the obstacles that emerge from the lack of Estonian foreign representations and facilitation of student immigration, the Estonian’s Ministry of the Interior implemented an amendment to the Aliens Act that was released into action in the year 2010. This act allowed the application for the residence permit for studies for those third country citizens willing to study their PhD or doctoral level degrees. The individuals are provided with the permission of submitting an application for temporary residence permit within Estonia, directly to the Police and Border Guard Board if they are legally living within the country. Because of this consideration, students around Europe and other countries worldwide have been motivated to join Estonian institutions for higher education. Research Questions Internationalization has become a mantra in higher education. The knowledge economy is a global network and universities around the world are encouraged to make consideration on various ways for the importance of reaping the benefits of global interconnectedness as well as avoiding the parochialism perils. Estonian Universities have done this and are currently receiving many students from other Euro and worldwide states, especially Turkey. The questions that the research will be focusing on are: what techniques do the Estonian Universities use in order to attract most of those foreign students to their universities? Do those foreign students enjoy and benefit from those techniques as well as receive quality education? These significant questions will be discussed in the research paper. Literature Review In their research Miller, Matveeva and Nekrassova (2014), argue that Estonia’s reputation as a study center has been impacted by the becoming widespread information that leads to increment in numbers of international students deciding to make a move to Estonia to attain their higher education. Consequently, these researchers continue to argue that Estonia is witnessing an increment in students coming from various different countries dues to various reasons such as exotic and sunny ones. They make a comment that this reason is one of the challenges that these students face in their country making it not comfortable to study and thus they move to Estonia. According to Sharan (2010), internationalization has been considered to be one of the most significant and pervasive forces at work within the context of higher education around the globe for the last two decades. Due to that, practical applications as well as conceptual knowledge concerning internationalization has evolved significantly, as the overall stakes in the internationalization game have become noticeably higher. In his research, Tomusk (2001) shows how over few years higher education was replaced by several broader ‘post-secondary education’. The research analyses several implications of the new Estonian legislation that is related to various activities such as funding, content of studies and governance, on higher education. Specifically as associated with private education, Tomusk concludes his report that most recent reforms do not demonstrate encouragement to private initiatives for the significance of offering higher education, as well as support of orthodox positions ion regard to higher education study’s content. Higher education institutions struggle with planning for future requirements, growth, and contraction. Due to the expansion of student populations and adoption of new t...