CONCLUSION: Toward a Future Agenda for the Internationalization of (Higher) Education

This 2021 Handbook, itself an update of the 2012 version published by SAGE, was written at a turbulent time for society and higher education. In the final section of the 2012 Handbook (Deardorff et al., 2012), the editors looked to a future where internationalization could be affected by changes to higher education generally and there would be a need for innovation in internationalization in response to “larger issues” outside of the control of international higher education. These issues included, for example, increased use of technology for teaching and learning and the potential movement away from traditional semester systems, such that traditional ways of “doing international education” might no longer be viable. The editors also wrote about the possibility of infectious disease and violence arising from societal tensions, making the urgency of international education even more real. Indeed, the year 2020 was one of political, social, and economic turmoil and disturbance across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic; an increase in national, regional, and social tensions and divisions, including unprecedented Black Lives Matter protests against racism and discrimination; increased numbers of displaced people and refugees; and rising anxiety about climate change highlight the shared concerns and delicate state of our interconnected global community. The internationalization of higher education has indeed been directly affected and the impact is likely to be long term. Hence, although this 2021 Handbook responds to some of the issues raised in 2012 edition, some remain unresolved at the time of writing this concluding chapter. How will internationalization be shaped by the momentous events of2020? How will those working in internationalization respond to the challenges they face? And how will they therefore contribute to shaping the future?.