The presence of international students in higher education (HE) is one of the main international mobilities of the last 20 years on a global scale. Portugal has also experienced a growing presence of international students, being a privileged destination for students from the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) since the 1980s. These contingents have brought to Portuguese higher education institutions (HEIs) important multicultural challenges arising from the social dynamics of the variation of the Portuguese language as a global language, whose implications on the host institutions have become urgent to debate. Therefore, we will specifically discuss here the reports collected in three focus groups with professors concerning their perceptions on the language, teaching and learning practices of PALOP national students who present more difficulties. These reports result from the action-research project "'Trovoada de Ideias': Linguistic and Social Inclusion of Students from PALOP in Portuguese in HE". In line with previous studies, we observe an absence of discussion in HEIs about the role of languages and cultures as transversal components of its activities, a discussion imposed in academic practices but still not consensual. We hope to contribute to the understanding that the internationalization of HE implies its transformation into a plural and intercultural education.

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Linguistic and social inclusion,Portuguese Higher Education,International African Students