ABSTRACT
The quest for higher education internationalization started “timidly” in Tunisia in 2000 in response to a social and educational systemic need. At that time, it was apparent that the higher education system had become outdated. In 2006, the adoption of the Licence-Master-Doctorate system was the first unintended positive consequence that favored internationalization. Obviously, this was related to the influence of the higher education reform trend that emerged in the European Union through the Bologna Process Principles in 1999. Ten years after the revolution of 2011, there are still differences of opinion between the advocates of “national local identity” of education and a “modernist elite” aiming at a universal horizon to implement a new paradigm shift. Rethinking the solid foundations of higher education in Tunisia as unintended positive consequences and the obstacles to the process of internationalization itself is the goal of this chapter. It is also a reflection on how to “liberate” the educational process and ensure its proper functioning.
