Integrated Approach to Internationalization in Higher Education

In order to achieve long-term and sustainable success as a company, international markets must be taken into consideration. Universities of Applied Sciences are therefore called upon to take international management topics into account in their curricula. The first part of this chapter documents the results of a study that analyzed the extent to which the business faculties of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences meet this requirement in their bachelor’s degree courses. This part is based on an analysis of publicly accessible module descriptions of the business administration curricula. The results show that three patterns can be recognized: A first group of Universities of Applied Sciences tackle the issue of internationalization by providing degree programs in English with a clear international focus. A second group of universities does not offer a bachelor’s degree entirely in English, but offer a significant number of modules related to internationalization, including “compulsory modules”, “compulsory elective modules (specialization)”, and “other compulsory elective modules. And a third group of universities have no or very few modules with a clear reference to internationalization. In a second part of the paper, the integrated approach of the Internationalization Cube, which was implemented at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) and its impact is presented.