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At a time when it is increasingly recognised that all students need to have access to global
learning, world views and perspectives, student mobility is even more of a privilege in some
countries of the world than in others. Simultaneously, the need for graduates from these
countries to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes to work effectively in a globalised

world, to be heard and have influence in this world, is both more urgent but more difficult to
achieve. The critical question for universities in the developing world today is how to define

internationalisation within their particular national and regional context, given the socio-
political, economic and academic conditions. Determining what internationalisation means
for national and institutional policies and procedures as well as for the curriculum and the

activities that support its enactment is not a simple task. Generally accepted definitions of
internationalisation in higher education and related concepts such as internationalisation of

the curriculum need to be unpacked and adapted to local conditions and interpreted in
context.

In 2007 it was concluded that in Latin America “few institutions integrate international, global,
intercultural or comparative topics in their curricula” and that the concept of
internationalisation at home is “unknown” (Gacel Avila, 2007, p. 404). Since then a range of

national policies and institutional activities focused on internationalisation have emerged
across the region. At a national level, in Colombia, one of the major economies of the Latin
American and Caribbean region, internationalisation was identified as a priority in the

National Policy on Education 2011-2014. A review of tertiary education in Columbia
conducted by the OECD & the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The

World Bank in 2012 makes recommendations for change to the current status of several
components of comprehensive internationalisation in Columbian tertiary education. One of
the recommendations is the inclusion of a global dimension into the curriculum as an integral

part of academic programmes in all institutions, supported by training and incentives for
faculty members and the incorporation of internationalisation into accreditation processes

and programme approval and review (p 212). This signals a move away from
internationalisation for a very small fraction of the overall student population to an approach
focussed on internationalisation for all. It is consistent with the government’s aims for social

and economic development which are dependant on human capital development. How this
might play out at an institutional level is evident at the Universidad Regiomontana in
Monterrey in Mexico, which has developed an institution wide approach to

Internationalisation at Home. Similar approaches are evident in many other universities in
Latin America.

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