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This article explores the themes of academic mobility/immobility in Swedish higher education. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, we provide an analysis of mobility decisions and experiences, across disciplinary fields and career stages. We identify narratives of transformative and pragmatic mobility experiences, and the (often high) costs involved in (im)mobility, in relation to career progression, emotional and relational dimensions of academics’ lives. We highlight the significance of university and national contexts for successful career construction.

Debates around internationalisation-at-home (IaH) focus on the benefits accrued to students from the integration of internationalisation dimensions in their studies, curricular developments and interactions with international students, but, with scant attention to how these vary in different subject areas. In this article, we focus on the disciplinary experiences and framings of internationalisation from the perspectives of students in two Swedish universities. Drawing on 67 interviews with students sampled across different subject areas, we examine how the disciplinary definitions of study objects and pedagogic approaches filter the students’ experiences and shape their views around IaH, and their ambitions for the future. Our findings suggest first, a discipline-specific set of positionings regarding the nature of subject areas as lenses through which internationalisation is understood. Second, the students hold strong views around the contribution of IaH in strengthening the disciplines themselves. In addition, the student voices paint a dynamic picture of internationalisation positions, not always consistent with disciplinary stereotypes.

Det här kapitlet undersöker lärarstudenters upplevelser av så kallad internationalisering på hemmaplan (IPH) och hur exempelvis interkulturella och internationella dimensioner inlemmas och kommer till uttryck i undervisningen. Den svenska högskolan har en historia av att arbeta proaktivt med internationaliseringsfrågor, men det har ofta kommit att förstås som en fråga om mobilitet och utbyten av olika slag. På senare tid har även IPH lyfts fram som en allt viktigare internationaliseringsambition för landets lärosäten (SOU 2018:3). I detta kapitel analyseras intervjuer med 23 studenter från olika program inom lärarutbildningens område. Resultatet visar att även om studenterna resonerar mycket insiktsfullt om såväl interkulturella kompetenser som färdigheter är de internationella dimensionerna de mött i sin utbildning starkt begränsade. Lärarutbildning som kunskapsfält uppfattas i mångt och mycket som en utbildning orienterad mot den nationella sfären och det påverkar hur studenterna möter de ämnesmässiga inslagen i utbildningen liksom hur de förbereds för det framtida yrkeslivet. En central slutsats utifrån studenternas berättelser är att det finns ett betydande utrymme för att utveckla goda interkulturella och internationella lärmiljöer som kan möta de krav som ställs på såväl en högkvalitativ utbildning som i den kommande yrkesutövningen. 

This article focuses on "internationalization at home" (IaH) for education students in Swedish Universities and its significance for their professional formation and future practice. We draw on research in two large institutions and explore the perceptions and experiences of internationalization of home students in education. We find that while the "intercultural" understanding of students is well developed, the international and intercultural dimensions of experiencing IaH are limited, due to several institutional and learning environment contexts. This has consequences for the social dimensions of future teaching practice. In addition, the perception of the discipline as "national" is significant in shaping the outlook of students toward international questions and their own future personal and professional mobility. We contextualize these findings using documentary analysis and staff interviews, and argue that to achieve intercultural and international learning environments of quality, social relevance, and long-term social benefit, we need to rethink how internationalization perspectives are integrated in teacher education courses.