The road(s) not taken and internationalization in Brazil: journey or destination?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss the possible directions that the process of internationalization of higher education in Brazil can take in a post-pandemic scenario of COVID-19 based on institutional self-assessment as proposed in the Amorim (2020) matrix. Inspired by Robert Frost's poem and the bifurcation metaphor on the way, we approach two guidelines for the internationalization of higher education, namely: cooperation and competition. The literature review in the area points to a possible paradigm shift (from competition to cooperation) and the discussion proposed here concludes that this change can be amplified/accelerated in the post-pandemic context. The study is reflective and uses the GPS metaphor to assist the self-assessment of Brazilian higher education institutions (HEIs) on the two roads of the poem, in the context of internationalization, in order to guide HEIs on roads that have not yet been traced in the face of the unprecedented context imposed by the pandemic. We conclude that the change of route/paradigm can be done more safely with the use of a(n) GPS/institutional self-analysis of the internationalization process.

Keywords

• internationalization; COVID-19; self-assessment; higher education.