Briefing 2
A Conceptual Framework for Internationalisation of the Curriculum

Internationalisation in higher education is important in both the local and the global contexts within which universities operate and internationalisation of the curriculum is a critical component of any university’s internationalisation strategy. A broad definition of curriculum is useful when considering internationalisation of the curriculum (Jones & Killick 2007). Such a view is inclusive of all aspects of the learning/teaching situation and both the formal curriculum (the syllabus and the planned experiences and activities that students undertake) as well as the informal curriculum and the hidden curriculum (Leask 2009).

The formal curriculum is the planned and sequenced programme of teaching and learning activities organised around defined content areas and assessed in various ways. The informal curriculum includes the various extra-curricular activities that take place on campus. It is an important part of the landscape in which the formal curriculum is enacted. The hidden curriculum includes the incidental lessons that are learned about power and authority, and about what and whose knowledge is valued and not valued, from the way the curriculum is organised and enacted. In the formal curriculum essential considerations include what international as well as ‘at home’ learning experiences will be provided to assist all students to develop specified international and intercultural learning outcomes, how learning in relation to these outcomes will be assessed and how study abroad and exchange are integrated into the curriculum at home.