In order to establish the context for my case studies in the present study, it is
important to locate Israeli colleges in the larger national context and pay attention to possible enablers and obstacles which may be associated with their capacity of to internationalise their curriculum. Among the enablers are colleges' institutional culture of entrepreneurship and diversity, their responsiveness to change, and the fact that they seem to depict
internationalisation as instrumental towards enhancing academic quality, research and achieving a global presence. Moreover, responding to change and adapting to the needs of a diverse population of students is central to the nature of Israeli colleges.
Internationalisation poses very different challenges for the 53 Israeli academic colleges than it does for the nine Israeli universities. From their moment of inception, Israeli colleges were traditionally identified with the academic objective of teaching and training, while research remained mostly the academic purpose of universities. Nowadays however, college faculty members are promoted not only with respect to their teaching skills but also by the extent and level of their research, just like university faculty. This growing focus on research seems to make them more receptive to embrace internationalisation and indeed, many colleges are busy with updating and redefining their institutional strategies, attempting
to incorporate and encourage research with international collaboration in their institutional culture. Internationalisation is increasingly being identified by colleges in Israel as a strategic element which can promote research opportunities and enhance qualitative aspects of
curriculum development. Even though the motivations of institutional leaders may be complex and highly contextualised, they seem to share an ambition whereby
internationalisation can be instrumental in mobilising them from ‘second-tier’ to ‘first-tier’
institutions (Yemini, et al., 2015). Indeed, many of them are taking their first steps to address the issue on a practical level. They are growing increasingly involved in EU-funded
internationalisation projects focusing on mobility, capacity building, curriculum design, and research (Marantz Gal, 2016).
Compared with the universities in Israel, colleges are younger, smaller, and often rurally located. They are also typically dynamic and open to change, and senior
man-agement—academics and administrators alike—is usually quite experienced at ‘dreaming the impossible’. This entrepreneurial culture is one of the dominant values in many college campuses, cascading successfully to the different layers of campus populations (faculty members, students, and administrators) (Marantz Gal, 2016).
While Israeli universities have traditionally been recruiting students with the highest academic potential, and enjoying a widespread international reputation for research (Yemini
& Ben Artzi, 2013), the colleges in Israel mostly focus on teaching undergraduate degrees, have far less access to research facilities and cater to a more diversified population of students with respect to academic, sociodemographic, and ethnic backgrounds, including populations of students with relatively lower academic and socio-economic backgrounds. As such, they are also committed to the idea of making academia accessible to all populations of Israeli society, with a particular emphasis on the immediate surrounding communities.
Minority populations such as Arabs and Jews from the periphery, Bedouins, Ethiopian, and
Russian immigrants, who were hitherto generally excluded from elite higher education offered by the universities, can now enroll colleges. As a result, these institutions are more experienced in the practice of adapting dynamically to different population needs and addressing diversity issues, both at the level of the curriculum and administration. It would be therefore easy to argue that Israeli colleges are already implementing the principles of internationalisation with respect to inclusion and intercultural sensitivities (Marantz Gal, 2016).
Lack of resources and formal guidelines for internationalisation, combined with a diversified population of students, may initially seem like built-in constraints of an institution's capacity to respond to the emerging need for internationalisation in higher education. However, such characteristics may just as well lead the way to a more creative and entrepreneurial institutional approach which will serve to expedite, not impede,
internationalisation. In fact, an already existing diverse student population may actually serve as an invaluable resource and driver for internationalisation. In other words, colleges, smaller and more rurally located, with a diverse student population may turn out to have an excellent starting point for embarking on the process of internationalisation.
A decentralised geographic location for example, with a commitment to make academia more accessible to the immediate surrounding community and the ability of the institution to adapt dynamically to community needs, may qualify as a powerful, value-driven purpose, which is well rehearsed by college leadership in Israel and aligns well with the values of internationalisation. It may also reflect colleges’ awareness to the extended environment in which they operate, a factor which may harness institutional responsiveness (Hunter, 2013).
Student mobility, or actually student immobility, is yet another example of a disadvantage potentially turned into an advantage. Many Israeli colleges still lack the
infrastructure necessary to facilitate internationalisation through student mobility by launching extensive student-exchange programmes, and therefore may be more naturally inclined toward promoting internationalisation by supporting activities related to
internationalisation at home. Colleges acknowledge that most of their students and academics are not likely to develop global competencies as a result of mobility (Trahar, 2013) and therefore initiating curriculum changes which incorporate skills of global
citizenship and intercultural capabilities, are likely to prove as the most effective means for them to reach the objective of internationalisation. Since internationalisation of the
curriculum is a critical component of any university's internationalisation strategy (Leask, 2013a), Israeli colleges who are only just embarking on the internationalisation venture could greatly benefit from paying close attention to their academic curriculum as a starting point.
Moreover, this limited ability of small Israeli colleges to compete in the student mobility arena of internationalisation, may in the long run prove as an advantage over the larger institutions, since it allows them to focus on the original purposes of internationalisation, namely teaching and learning, which are increasingly becoming as relevant, if not more, than the traditional focus on mobility (de Wit, 2013).