Postscript

Abstract

We do not see the initials R&D very often these days, and in the past they were more associated with industrial output than with educational reform. But what is the purpose of R if it is not linked to D? The aim of research is to improve our understanding of the existing situation so that we can shape its future development more effectively, make it better fit for purpose. In practice, however, most educational R is carried out long after the D is over, much too late to influence deeply embedded decisions.International education has been around long enough to have acquired a well documented history (see for example, Sylvester, 2005). We are fully aware of the key events, institutions, and people that have shaped its remarkable progress from a niche activity to something approaching a worldwide movement. The research challenge of the 20th century was to bridge the unusually large epistemological gap between 'doing' international education and 'knowing' what international education actually was. Therefore many of the research questions (often posed and pondered by practitioners) were designed to knit together theory and practice.