INTERNATIONALIZATION FROM DIFFERENT LOCI OF ENUNCIATION: CONCEPTS BY THE PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM PRACTITIONERS

ABSTRACT The internationalization of education has received different definitions and approaches among countries, higher education institutions (HEIs) and other agents (KNIGHT, 2003; 2004). Some authors, however, have identified certain "misconceptions" (DE WIT, 2011) and "myths" (KNIGHT, 2011) regarding the concepts that permeate the idea of internationalization of education, and they point out possible risks and undesirable consequences of this process. For this reason, it is in urgent need to critically discuss the different definitions that internationalization might receive (AZEVEDO, 2014), especially the perspectives of the practitioner subjects (CERTEAU, 2009) of the curriculum, which is the main objective of this study. The present research attempted to investigate the concepts of internationalization negotiated by social actors of the internationalization process in HEIs, namely the public servers of the Brazilian Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education (RFEPCT). Furthermore, the study brings these interpretations in dialogue with those by academics from the area. For this purpose, a semi-structured questionnaire was applied to RFEPCT public servers with different positions and functions, representing, as far as possible, the five geographic regions of Brazil. The study also had a literature review of the main theoretical models, as well as of the debate about the internationalization process of HEIs from a critical base. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed qualitatively, and the discussion is presented in dialogue with the studies on internationalization.