The principle of lifelong learning applies to everyone in the modern society but
even more strongly to university faculty. Within the university system the learning
process of professors depends upon the interactions between and among col-
leagues. A researcher-to-researcher interrelationship with frequent discussion
rounds, exchange of ideas, interdisciplinary communication, and cooperation or
collaboration becomes the most natural and most easily explored channel for
learning and personal development.11 No interaction within the university’s own
researcher community leads inevitably to paralysis of the researchers’ personal
development and paralysis of the university system as a whole with any system
development.
The previously described three interrelationships (student-to-student, student-to-
lecturer, researcher-to-researcher) build the core of a university because their cor-
relation directly affects the individual learning process of students. The university
administration’s task is to establish and to institutionalize interrelationships be-
tween students and lecturers and researchers in such a way that the students’ and
lecturers’ individual learning processes are facilitated and supported. This contains
all facets of university organization: the library, information technology, mainte-
nance of buildings, academic affairs (hiring, promotion, tenure and evaluation),
international office etc.. It is important to emphasize that the administration in all
its functions is an integral part of the learning environment and is therefore closely
linked to the faculty and students. The focus of every administration-to-student
and every administration-to-lecturer/researcher interaction should always be
the optimal organization of and support for the individual learning process within
the university system.
How does the internationalization of a university fit into this systems approach?
The value of internationalization is the confrontation of the individual with the
foreign other, with the “New”, with different ideas, different experiences and dif-
ferent values and norms. In a university system with a high degree of interaction
between students, between students and lecturers and between researchers, inter-
nationalization becomes an invaluable stimulant for the individual learning process
and personal development. However, in a university system with less communica-
tion and less frequent exchange in all three interrelationships, the effect of interna-
11 It is worth mentioning that lecturers and researchers are identical system elements (same
person) as research and teaching form a unity. This article distinguishes between lecturer and
researcher only for the purpose to making a distinction between these activities.
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