Internationalisation at home and its possible development in nursing education: A qualitative descriptive study of...

Introducing Internationalisation at Home (IaH) means integrating international perspectives into curricula in higher education in order to develop students' intercultural and international competence. Introducing international learning objectives in a purposeful way into higher education curricula provides the opportunity for all students to assimilate international skills.

The objective of this study was to explore teachers' views about Internationalisation at Home and its possible development within nursing education.

Focus group discussions were carried out at one Lithuanian and two Swedish universities. The transcribed text from the discussions was analysed using qualitative inductive analysis.

The analysis generated two main categories: teachers' international competence needs to be improved in order for IaH to be introduced; and, implementing IaH should involve the entire university to be effective.

Improvement of IaH in higher education is needed. Teachers should be introduced to the concept of IaH and given training in how to work to promote it. Students will receive the pedagogical benefit of an increased global awareness. This generic competence should prepare them to work internationally. It is essential that higher education institutions prioritise IaH and, via natural progression, incorporate the concept into their teaching and administrative practices.