ABSTRACT
Internationalisation processes, of which transnational education is one example, are often talked about in grand societal terms. A certain amount of celebratory, neo-liberal discourse can be found in this context: globalisation and internationalisation are said to have the potential to open multiple doors and widen fields of knowledge, so that whole economies and nations ultimately can benefit from access to world-wide scientific and economic advancement (on the discourse of globalisation, see Fiss and Hirsch 2005). This article by contrast takes an approach to the effects of globalisation on higher education contexts which foregrounds the individual, thus making the implicit claim that internationalisation processes are ultimately personal, as the quotation at the beginning suggests. The article addresses the narrated life history of an academic employed in Denmark who teaches in both Danish and English, and shows how he represents the interplay of local and transnational in his history in order to make sense of his present position and opinions. It is individuals who accrue experiences ‘abroad’, who reflect and act upon them and who integrate them into a process of personal and professional identity-making and action (here
represented in the form of an elicited narrative). For this reason, it is paramount to examine what might make it possible for individuals to work seamlessly in such hybrid, internationalising contexts as postmodern universities are increasingly becoming. One example of this is found in the European context, where the Bologna Process has led in recent years to the increased introduction of English-medium university programmes where, earlier, national languages prevailed unopposed as teaching medium.
