Internationalisation - a necessary dilemma

Trump wasn’t on the agenda when the Research Policy Committee of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters decided in the autumn of 2024 that the theme for the annual meeting – and the accompanying white paper – would be the internationalisation of Danish research and education: from quantity to quality. But the Trump administration's economic sanctions against US universities and its interference on academic freedom have only increased the relevance of this year's topic.

Education and Research Minister Christina Egelund (Moderates) also opened her speech at the annual meeting by addressing the current geopolitical tensions.

"The geopolitical changes are practically lining up," the minister said and continued:

"We live in a time when academic freedom is influenced by high political interests. We see it in China - and more unexpectedly, we see it in the US, where political tensions and culture wars are putting pressure on the freedom to conduct research and teach." Christina Egelund reminded us that we must not take academic freedom for granted:

"It is the foundation of scientific integrity and societal integrity."

Strengthening the European research sector

The answer is not to close in on yourself. The answer is co-operation, the minister explained:

"In the government, we believe in international co-operation. We know that international co-operation improves the impact of research. We want more international students at educational institutions and we need to actively seek international partners. But we must also be aware of who we collaborate with and on what," said Christina Egelund, who emphasised that the government wants to strengthen the European research sector.

Last Monday, Christina Egelund attended a meeting of European Ministers of Education and Research, in which French President Macron and European Commission President Von der Leyen also took part.

"At the meeting, Von der Leyen stated: ‘Europe will always choose science’. I will hold her to that. Academic freedom is a scarce resource in some parts of the world, and we shouldn't be naive, there are countries and rulers who do not share our values," Christina Egelund said.

The balance between transparency and security

The Minister also mentioned her recent tour of Danish universities to discuss how to strike the right balance between the openness needed to conduct research and the need to protect research from, for example, espionage. In this connection, Egelund visited AU on 28 April and has also visited SDU. Before the annual meeting, she had been to AAU.

"We don't need to close the doors, but we need to know who is going through which doors," said the minister.

Ida Ebbensgaard, who moderated the annual meeting, wanted to know what impressed the minister after meeting the researchers at SDU, AU and AAU.

"It's how committed they are to this issue. I was worried that it would be an uphill battle to convince scientists that safety is necessary. But they know that," the minister said.

Ida Ebbensgaard also asked the minister about the change of course in Danish education policy, where the previous government cut international study places, which led to the closure of English-language programmes. On the other hand, the current government has opened up more international study places as part of the Bachelor's programme reform. Egelund made no secret of the fact that she was personally pleased to be part of a government that opens up for more international students.

She was also asked whether the government will abolish the cap on SU grants for international students, which is a specific recommendation from the Science Society's research policy committee this year. The minister answered in the affirmative:

"It follows from my decision to revoke the student grant agreement, which means that the cap will be removed after the next parliamentary election."

Finally, she was asked what line she is taking now that the French president has opened his arms wide and is encouraging American researchers to come to France and enjoy the country's academic freedom.

"I think we should do that too, and we are well placed to do so because we are strong in fields such as green technology and health research, which are among the fields that Trump is targeting. But we shouldn't hire a researcher from Harvard if an Indian is more suitable. It's knowledge and competences that should govern recruitment, not nationality," she emphasised.

Urgent need to increase the talent pool

Dan Zahavi, chairman of the research policy committee, described the minister's presentation as "very encouraging" before going on to present the white paper.

According to the preface of the white paper, the ambition of the research policy committee is to "restart the conversation about how we best welcome the talented international researchers and students who choose to bring their talent to Denmark."  

The need to discuss this is intensified by the coming years characterised by small youth cohorts, which will lead to a growing shortage of skilled labour. Therefore, it is "imperative to increase the talent pool available to the Danish labour market," the committee writes in the white paper.

"But we must not close our eyes to the challenges that increased internationalisation has brought with it. Economic constraints, language barriers, cultural differences, political tensions and security concerns are all complicating factors," they continue.

In English, please – or not?

Language barriers, cultural differences and the quality of internationalisation were discussed in the subsequent panel debate. The panel consisted of Bjørn Stensaker, Vice-rector for Education at the University of Oslo, Bente Stallknecht, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, Mette Birkedal Bruun, Professor at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen, and Mikkel Haarder, Deputy Director of the Confederation of Danish Industry.

Mikkel Haarder pointed out the need to become better at retaining the talent you cultivate and problematised the fact that a large proportion of the PhD students educated by Danish universities leave the country once their PhD degree is completed. The panel discussed the relevance of language inclusion. Bente Stallknecht explained that the Faculty of Health Sciences has just appointed a head of department who does not understand Danish.

"Normally, the language of management at UCPH is Danish, but we have set ourselves the challenge of working on how we in faculty management can be more inclusive linguistically. It's unfortunate that there is a glass ceiling that prevents excellent international researchers from sitting on councils, boards and committees where they can influence university policy. But the question is whether quality decreases when we switch to a second language."

Peter Mølgaard, rector of CBS, explained that CBS requires meetings to be held in English for this very reason. Being linguistically inclusive is necessary if you want to attract more foreigners.

A researcher with an international background offered the opposite viewpoint - the importance of learning Danish.

"You can do people a disservice by having everything in English. My understanding of Danish culture has increased as I have learnt the language. Functioning in Denmark is not just about functioning in a workplace, it's also about understanding what happens at Aula," she said.  

The necessity of alliances

The annual meeting also featured a presentation from Jo Ritzen, former Dutch Minister of Education and professor of Economics. He pointed out that European universities' response to "Trump's Swamp", as he put it, should be increased international mobility, including more, not less, international students. The benefits of increased internationalisation extend far beyond universities and contribute to economic growth, partly due to increased innovation.

Bjørn Stensaker also gave a presentation on the possibilities of European university alliances. Both as a strategy for increased international collaboration on research and education - and to strengthen the opportunities to influence the political level in Brussels.

"When it's an uncertain world, you need friends, and you get that through university alliances," he said.