Good teachers and deviant learners: The meeting of practices in university level international education

The article focuses on the impact of internationalization on university lecturers’ practice. Based on interviews with 36 employees from Danish universities, we discuss what internationalization means for the classroom relationship between university teachers and international students. The article is inspired by an intercultural communication model that highlights how respondents’ reliance on a simplified image of self and other leads them to the construction of a perception of international students from a deficit perspective. Following an examination of perceived differences in learning approach, classroom practices and student/staff roles, we propose that an intercultural pedagogy be developed, underlining the need for a symmetrical learning and teaching platform in international education.