Toward Genuine Transformations: The Internationalization of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia.

摘要

This qualitative study researches the effects of internationalization in higher education on individuals and home nations. Data collection included interviewing 20 students sponsored by the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP), an internationalization program, investigating two of the program's objectives: developmental and cultural. This study also included a review of governmental materials, prior research on the scholarship program, and scholarship on the process of internationalization. This study reveals three angles regarding the kinds of experiences graduates had with the KASP scholarship program. First, the national and international purposes of this internationalization program unfold from the experiences of the graduates. Second, residing in another fully-developed nation helps KASP students experience what the state-sponsoring nations want their own citizens to experience for both personal and national aims. Third, the effects of internationalization on KASP graduates' job journeys articulate the future path for credential-holders on their way home. This research concludes to say that sponsored students coming from developing nations in such program manage to partially inherit, indirectly, from the developed settings, in this case Canada, what this research calls global citizenship. Furthermore, graduates' experience with internationalization processes prepares them for the markets for their profession, but there should also be additional efforts from the sponsoring states which ease the return and future employment of the graduates to their sponsored nation---their home. In conclusion, the findings from the study suggest that internationalization grants nations and individuals many tools that can play vital role in shaping today's developing world.