ABSTRACT
The chapter addresses the question how and why academic disciplines internationalise. Disciplines are treated as communities of practice, which suggests that members undergo a process of academic socialisation, which installs in them an understanding of what activities are rewarded within specific disciplinary fields. This leads an examination of disciplinary orientation, which scholars present as either universal or national, allowing the author to highlight the difference between subject areas that are context-dependent, and knowledge presented as generally applicable. Regardless of discipline it is argued that most academics have accepted their need to internationalise research practices through their choice of literature, publications in English, and participation in international networks. A final section examines the implications for teaching practice. It is argued that the focus on internationalising within the disciplines has made it difficult for actors to refuse international teaching, which suggests an element of social pressure within the academic system. In addition, the effort individual teachers have to invest in internationalising subject knowledge depends on nature of field knowledge, which means that actors from applied sciences such as Law or Agricultural Science are challenged in a way that chemists and statisticians are not.
