INTERNATIONALIZATION AT HOME THROUGH VIRTUAL EXCHANGE

In this chapter Beelen and Jones's definition of IaH is adopted: Internationalization at Home is the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments. This is followed by a consideration of the opportunities virtual exchange offers for internationalization as well as the risks. For the purpose of simplification a distinction between two main categories of virtual exchange can be made, taking the educator's vantage point: codesigned virtual exchanges and 'ready-made' virtual exchanges. A strategy should be developed that recognizes and addresses the risks in order to avoid reproducing or exacerbating the current inequities of internationalization. Critical internationalization scholars and decolonial theorists argue that the system itself is beyond reform. The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt accelerated a paradigm shift in internationalization of higher education toward a stronger focus on IaH and active support for more inclusive and sustainable educational practices.