Internationalisation is an integral part of today’s higher education and globalised working life. Traditional ways of internationalisation include student and teacher exchange and collaboration on international projects, as an example. These can also be achieved in an online learning context, e.g. through virtual exchange and collaboration with international partners.

Online degree education can offer many possibilities for authentic international activities and experiences for students. Studying in an international online degree gives students globally access to degree education, thus bringing into the global degree study arena their own culture and local setting. Students thus take part in collaborative learning in multicultural virtual groups, acquiring many soft skills required by today’s working life.

An international online degree can also offer new opportunities for teachers, including co-teaching online with an international partner school or acting as visiting lecturer on an online course. These experiences strengthen the internationalisation of the degree education and broaden the learning experience for the students.

As a whole, higher education institutions can broaden their international activities through online degree education and digitalisation of learning. I am excited to be talking more about this topic as a keynote speaker at International Congress of Distance Learning in Brazil organised by  The Brazilian Association for Distance Education (ABED): https://innopeda.turkuamk.fi/language/en/general/international-congress-of-distance-learning-in-brazil/

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