Sustainable collaboration in higher education: the case of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (South Africa) and Fontys University (Netherlands)

Abstract

This paper is centred around the partnership between the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Research indicates that a crucial dimension of international orientation is the internationalisation of education. Internationalisation is an instrument to improve the quality of education or research, it helps to prepare students for a professional career, which is increasingly international as a result of the global knowledge economy and teaches competencies with a wide application range (Beck, 1998). An increasingly internationalised economy, will require larger and larger pools of welltrained, multilingual, internally knowledgeable employees. (Excerpt, Policy on Internationalisation at a Canadian university) International higher education has also been affected because of the globalisation of our societies and economies. Increasing competition for international students and international programmes is one of the consequences. The changing economic position of countries like India and China in the world is also a factor. For the cooperation between CPUT and Fontys we are working for a sustainable collaboration with certain basic principles in mind. The questions “why” and “what” are used as a guide in the partnership instead of just looking for additional exchanges, more mobility programmes. The focus is rather on quality and not quantity. We are offering a best practice in collaboration on different academic levels between higher education in Europe and Africa, especially the Netherlands and South Africa.