The Internationalization of Higher Education (IHE) is a complex phenomenon shaped by the forces of globalization, neoliberalism, and colonialism (Altbach & de Wit, 2018). While IHE can provide benefits, it also risks reproducing inequities between the Global North and South (Gutierrez, 2013). Therefore, it is crucial to critically examine and challenge the dominant discourses and practices of IHE that privilege Western agendas and perspectives (Silva, & Pereira, 2022; Chakrabarty, 2018; Larsen, 2016), and to explore alternative ways of conceptualising, developing and implementing IHE that are more inclusive, collaborative, and transformative (Ansari, Hussain, & Geniat 2019).

This roundtable "Perspectives and Challenges for the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Global South: Race, Social Justice and Geopolitical Reparations", that it will be edited by Kleber Silva, Vilton Soares de Souza and Tamara Rosa, it will offer a unique and innovative -approach to the topic of IHE from the perspective of the Global South. It provides critical analysis of current IHE policies and activities, which often reinforce colonial legacies and neoliberal ideology. It proposes alternative ways of conceiving and operationalizing IHE that promote social justice and sustainability. This special issue will aim to contribute to this critical endeavour by bringing together voices of researchers from the Global South who share a common interest in decolonizing IHE. The special issue will adopt a critical applied linguistics (CAL) and decolonial framework (DF) that integrates linguistic, social, political, and educational dimensions of IHE, and a decolonial perspective that challenges the dominant Western discourse that reinforces power asymmetries between the North and South and proposes ways to reshape and empower IHE in the Global South. 

CAL and DF will aim to critically examine and challenge the power relations and ideologies that shape language policies, practices, and discourses in various contexts. CAL and DF also will seek to promote social justice and transformation through international affairs, language education, and awareness.Decoloniality on the other hand, is a school of thought that aims to delink from Eurocentric knowledge hierarchies and ways of being in the world in order to enable other forms of existence on Earth. It critiques the perceived universality of Western knowledge and the superiority of Western culture, including the systems and institutions that reinforce these perceptions. Decolonial perspectives view colonialism as the basis for the everyday function of capitalist modernity and imperialism. Decoloniality itself emerged as part of a South America movement examining the role of the European colonization of the Americas in establishing Eurocentric modernity/coloniality (Mignolo, 2011; 2018).

CAL and decoloniality are related in that they both question the dominant discourses and practices that privilege Western agendas and perspectives, and that marginalize and oppress other voices and experiences. They also share a common goal of reimagining alternative ways of knowing and being that are more inclusive, collaborative, and transformative. CAL and decoloniality can therefore offer useful tools and concepts for rethinking IHE from the standpoint of the Global South, and for promoting a more integrative, collaborative, and solidarity approach to higher education and language policies.