The End of Internationalization is Just The Beginning

30 years ago, Neil Postman argued: "Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything." Fast forward to today: Internationalization will not merely coexist with technology; it will be dramatically altered by it – and not just international education – but also international research and partnerships.

The End of Hyperglobalization

The history of internationalization parallels the unprecedented period of hyperglobalization from the 1980s through the mid-2000s, a period unlike any other in world history.

Bremmer (2023) has argued that we are moving away from geopolitics dominated by nation-state superpowers toward one shaped by three conflicting orders - a unipolar U.S.-led security order, a multipolar economic order, and the wild card: a technopolar order where tech giants act as geopolitical actors.?

The shift towards multipolarity in internationalization is everywhere you look:

Over the last 20 years, student mobility has diversified towards emerging regional hubs in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, as evidenced by a longitudinal network analysis of UNESCO data by myself and Natalie Cruz.?

International research collaborations, once dominated by a handful of Western nations, are now being regionalized with the rise of scientific powerhouses like China and the growing influence of non-Western middle powers such as India, Iran, and Brazil.

International partnerships are also being affected with the decoupling of U.S.-China ties in science and technology, as well as the securitization of research partnerships, creating new barriers and uncertainties for cross-border scientific collaboration.?

A Technopolar World: The New Wild Card

While the geographic world has grown increasingly multipolar with diffuse centers of power, the technological world has become ever more centralized under the control of a handful of powerful tech giants.

As argued in, Cloud Empires, tech companies have become "digital autocrats," wielding state-like control over our online lives. Just 1% of social networks account for 95% of social web traffic, and 1% of search engines command 97% of all searches.?

Sam Altman went on a diplomatic mission after the release of GPT-4. Elon Musk makes decisions that impact the war in Ukraine and influence the policies of Javier Milei in president of Argentina.

Global edtech investments are 10x — even 100x — what they were 10 years ago.

New Internet, New Internationalizations

Each era of the internet has introduced new forms of internationalization.

In early internet was novel for its open protocols and decentralized structure. No one was in charge. That was the point.?

As centralization concentrated power in a handful of tech giants, internationalization was also increasingly shaped by corporate influence, driven by income generation and rankings

de Wit and others have aptly named this "the end of internationalization", where internationalization stayed from its “ends” and become unmoored from its original principles and rationales. In his recent article, Everything That Quacks is Internationalization, deWit argues that internationalization is now a "catch-all" that serves only the elite interests of the most powerful institutions.

He argues that this predicament does not call for new definitions of internationalization but new directions for internationalization.?

But the “end of internationalization” does not mean we’re merely in the next wave of internationalization as we have known it.?

Yes, traditional forms of internationalization will continue to exist, but in the rocky crosscurrents of conflicting unipolar, multipolar, and technopolar worlds. And the technologies that will shape that future will be more powerful than ever. The end of internationalization is just the beginning.?

Three Transformative Technologies

The future of internationalization lies in the convergence of three transformative technologies: artificial intelligence, blockchain networks, and extended reality. Each is transformative in its own right, but its the combination that is so powerful.

Artificial intelligence is not a single technology. It is a system of powerful technologies ranging from affective computing to computer vision.?

These technologies are so powerful that Nature named ChatGPT as one of the 10 most influential scientists of 2023. Nations are investing in AI to advance science, and in 2017, the UAE appointed a cabinet-level Minister of AI.?

The capabilities of LLMs have accelerated and will only compound. As Ethan Mollick has observed: “The AI you are using today is the worst AI you are ever going to use.”

The just-released?Human-Centered AI report at Stanford highlights examples of how AI is already being used to dramatically speed up scientific discovery -- from pharmaceuticals to renewable energy.

Sentiment towards AI is highest in developing and emerging economies like China, Saudi Arabia, India, Peru, and Malaysia, where this technology's economic potential is transformative.?

AI may be making headlines, but the extended reality is where institutions are making the biggest investments. XR investments are over 3x that of AI and are projected to reach $2 trillion in the next 5 years. Think of the metaverse not as an alternate reality but as a 3D version of the internet powered by AI. Digital twins will allow students in multiple remote locations to collaborate as they develop hands-on skills in immersive, interactive, real-world environments. This technology is already used by Amazon and will soon be used by universities.

Decentralized blockchain networks offer a powerful counterweight to the centralizing forces of big tech. Blockchain networks are a “new construction material for building a more open internet" designed to re-decentralize the web. One that is tamper-proof and transparent. Blockchains solve the most vexing problems of today's Internet. Data rentiership is feature of big tech networks, blockchain represents decentralized data ownership. Deep fakes are enabled by AI, blockchain ensures authenticity.?

Mapping The New EdTech Ecosystem

If technology is ecological, not additive – what does the global edtech ecosystem look like?

Katya Minaeva and I have been asking this exact question, mapping the emerging global edtech landscape in our research project on “technologies of mobility”. The breadth of the current landscape is breathtaking:

There are legacy 2.0 social networks building online communities and support services for international students.

AI-powered platforms offer personalized career guidance and skill development, and AI-powered admissions and international student recruitment platforms that match students with institutions.

Blockchain-based solutions are being developed for secure, verifiable digital credentialing.

XR technologies are being used to offer immersive, global work experiences and create virtual spaces for cross-cultural collaboration and exchange.

Technologies of (Im)mobility

Technological change will be ecological -- imperceptible in the moment but dramatic over time. It will not just enhance existing forms of internationalization, it will create new forms of internationalization that have been previously impossible or unimaginable.

Our analysis suggests that at least four new kinds of mobilities are being formed: enhanced physical mobility, immersive virtual exchange, new forms of networked and hybrid mobility, and the mobility of knowledge and skills.?

The Need for Techno-Realism

Everything depends on the lenses through which we view this new world. By putting on these lenses, we can see a world that would otherwise remain invisible. To keep things in focus, we must view the future through both the lens of techno-optimism and techno-skepticism.

There is the opportunity to expand access to new virtual and hybrid mobilities, provide more secure credential recognition, and increase access to education. However, techno-optimism overlooks how commercialism and geopolitical fragmentation could further Balkanize higher education.

There are also the stark realities of new digital divides, algorithmic biases, datafication, and surveillance. But techno-skepticism only perceives AI as a “threat,” ignoring compelling evidence that it benefits learners who need the most support and removes the barrier of language, where English is no longer the “imperial tongue.”

We shed light on these dual realities in our book, Digital Internationalization: Beyond Virtual Exchange in Higher Education, which is summarized in our recent University World News article, "Digital internationalisation needs to bridge, not widen gaps."

Historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari argues that it is a mistake to assume AI is like past technologies since “it’s the first technology that can make decisions by itself, that can create new ideas by itself, and can learn and develop by itself.”

We also cannot assume the future will be like the past.?

David Autor at MIT, one of world’s leading labor economists, has published extensively on the labor impacts of technological change and economic inequalities created by computer technology. But, he argues AI is a fundamentally different kind of technology that has the potential to rebuild the hollowed-out middle class.?

Not Post-Internationalization, Multi-Internationalizations

It may be the “end of internationalization” but we are not in a post-internationalization world but a world of multi-internationalizations. Internationalization cannot be reduced to a single definition, nor will its future go in a single direction.

Conflicting directions are likely:

Traditional internationalization will be impacted by unipolar securitization with geopolitical barriers to mobility due to tech supremacy battles and restrictions on student visas and international research partnerships.

A multipolar economic order driven by intra-regional mobility and distributed education models in Asia-Pacific and other emerging economies, fueled by the growth of edtech companies in China, India, Israel, UAE, Nigeria, South Africa, Chile, and Brazil, leading to the rise of new education hubs.?

And, the technopolar wildcard, where tech companies may partner with elite universities to leverage economies of scale, as well as decentralized tech platforms, may offer a serious, secure, affordable alternative to many universities.

The Internationalization We Want, Not The One We Inherited

While the exact direction is unpredictable, one thing is clear: the end of internationalization is just the beginning. The end presents an opening to create the internationalization we want, not the one we've inherited.

What new forms of internationalization will we bring into being?