Tackling the Challenges of the University’s Internationalization

Our goal is to share good practices with Anáhuac University's schools, and departments in order to devise an integral plan with an international focus.

A conference was held via Zoom last September 9, during the training sessions of Anáhuac México University’s Office for Internationalization. The conference was entitled “Challenges in Drafting an Internationalization Plan 2021-2025: The Case of the Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI) in Chile,” imparted by Carlos Ramírez, director of International Relations of the said institution.

Carlos Ramírez pointed out that there is a need to ensure higher education institutions remain connected to the international stage and to help resolve the global issues that humanity is currently facing. We also need to help prepare young people to face the future, where a level of uncertainty prevails and local issues are affected by the global context and vice versa.

The conference’s goal was to share best practices among the schools, faculties and departments of Anáhuac México University in order to devise an integral plan that has an international focus and can be applied to these institutional bodies. The plan must unite all initiatives to build international partnerships and respond effectively to a radically changing environment.

Some of the main points that emerged during the talk include: internationalizing the curriculum; activities in teaching, research and partnerships; establishing international alliances and networks; and the need for internal and external instruments to build international cooperation and alliances.

Carlos Ramírez also emphasized the need to define the intention behind internationalizing the university, and on that basis, the need to define the objectives and procedures to be followed across the institution, in which innovation and inclusion are priorities, both within and outside the university. We will also need to establish our short, medium and long-term prospects, outlining where we are today and where we want to be in a few years. The ultimate goal is to form new and advocate traditional ways of forming international alliances that bolster our international community.

Currently, the Office for Internationalization, in collaboration with the university’s schools and faculties, are working together to design a strategic plan of internationalization, which outlines the projects and objectives that shall serve as a guideline for the next few years. Planning in this area is certainly one of the most important projects being conducted by higher education institutions.