What is missing in internationalization of higher education in a time of globalization in the Asia-Pacific region?

One major trend of globalization related to reforming and restructuring higher education is the intention to make the higher education systems more globally competitive. Thus, in the process of internationalization of higher education, many of the high education institutes in the Asia-Pacific region are forced to follow global practices and ideologies without building up their own unique systems and revering the affluent cultural traditions of their own countries. While indulging in the game of marketing and exporting higher education to other regions, we must ask ourselves authentically, "What should internationalization of higher education aim at? What is missing in the process of internationalization in the Asia Pacific Region?" This presentation argues that preparing future leaders and citizens for a highly interdependent globe requires a higher education system where internationalization promotes cultural diversity and fosters civic and intercultural awareness, and where the internationalized curriculum is committed to the pursuit of the notion of global citizenship. Such internationalization of higher education contributes to building more than economically competitive and politically powerful states. It represents a commitment to the civic mission of international solidarity, human harmony and helps to build a climate of global peace.