Fostering intercultural learning through multicultural group work

It is becoming increasingly clear that despite paying lip service to various aspects of internationalisation, many higher education institutions keen to increase recruitment of international students and expand their financial base are failing to make the most of the opportunities that student diversity provides: promoting genuine internationalism and fostering intercultural learning. Wright and Lander (2003) recently commented on the difference between having a culturally diverse student population and having those students engaged in positive interaction by stating that ‘universities are deluding themselves if they believe that the presence of international students on campus contributes to the internationalisation of higher education’ (p. 250). In short, the rhetoric of education internationalisation hides the fact that intercultural interaction, in and outside the classroom, is not developing naturally, and is at best limited, among students from culturally diverse backgrounds.