INTERNATIONALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT: EXPERIENCES IN CUBAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The current demands of higher education demand an increasingly systematic and deep interaction between the universities of the different countries. In accordance with this, the main objective of the work is to address the significance of internationalization in the development of Higher Education Institutions (IES) emphasizing the internationalization of research, curriculum, teacher training and impact on society. These trends are strongly marked by the growing process of virtualization in higher education. Attention is drawn to the importance of achieving a conscious insertion of the universities of underdeveloped countries in these trends, being essential to take into account the risks present from the dual nature of the internationalization process, led from the hegemonic centers that, sometimes, seek to impose their paradigms, many of them, alien to the realities of the so-called southern countries. Some results of the internationalization process and its impact on the development achieved by Cuban higher education are shown.