Search results

This study aims to explore the research internationalization process in Georgia, one of the post-Soviet countries. Specifically, it examines the individual-level reasons that motivate faculty at Georgian universities to engage in the process of research internationalization. It also unpacks scholars’ perspectives on the driving factors for selecting the key partners in international research.

Sixteen faculty members for this exploratory qualitative study were selected through stratified purposeful sampling from five higher educational institutions in Georgia. Participants were asked to discuss their participation in international research projects and underline the activities and events that motivated them to participate in international collaborative projects. The critical incident method was used to analyze our qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews.

The research revealed that faculty at Georgian universities are more oriented toward collaboration with their peers from European countries and the USA. This preference is influenced by such factors as higher quality of science, higher level of freedom and autonomy, personal contacts and networks, as well as language competencies. The data also helped to unpack Georgian scholars’ individual-level rationales that were conceptualized into three domains: human capital, financial capital and physical capital.

This study is an original work conducted in Georgia. It contributes to the development of the field of internationalization of research. The three-domain conceptual framework on the individual-level rationale for internationalization can be used in future research on post-Soviet countries and beyond.

In the 21st century, placing higher education institutions in the global world has become the norm. Therefore, many higher education institutions in Ghana and across the globe have set out to internationalise or become world-class universities as part of their strategic ambitions. Thus, finding ways to become visible on a global scale and transcend beyond the countries in which they operate has become of major interest to most universities. The authors of this chapter were curious to determine how universities adopt imported organisational templates as a strategic ambition. One should not assume that the semblance of such imported concepts is mere institutional isomorphism stemming from internationalisation and globalisation. The study employed semi-structured interviews and institutional documents as data collection tools among ten (10) university actors in a flagship university in Ghana. The study used postcolonial theory to critically examine the drivers and current practices embedded in dominant hegemonic global discourses, such as internationalisation. The findings revealed that the drivers and reforms underpinning university internationalisation ambition are framed within economic rationalities, producing human capital, self-marketisation to promote visibility, and a quest for global competition couched within global neoliberal ideology. The study recommends the need for university actors to (re)focus and (re)evaluate university internationalisation discourse to ensure a balance between local relevance and global forces.

Using Singapore as a case study, this chapter analyzes how the internationalization of teacher education can take place amidst strong national obligations. It discusses qualitative and quantitative data from a study that sought out the features, strategies, and expected outcomes of internationalization in Singapore. Institutional key actors (i.e., institutional leaders, faculty members, administrative staff, and student teachers) from Singapore’s sole teacher education institution, the National Institute of Education, participated in this study.

Findings reveal that the internationalization of teacher education is perceived to be important for its expected academic, economic, sociocultural, and political benefits. However, due to teacher education’s strong national obligations, the integration of international dimensions is limited and guided by local priorities. As a result, a hybridized form of localization and internationalization can be seen in Singapore’s teacher education. This is a significant finding as teacher education – traditionally known to be nationally local – is now interested to incorporate internationalized perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the difference in the process of higher education (HE) internationalization across faculties in a post‐1992 university and to identify faculty‐specific factors through evaluating the four faculties in the case study.

A qualitative research is conducted in a post‐1992 UK university. Four faculties are involved and a total of 20 interviewees from three key departments participate in this project. Content analysis, critical discourse analysis and categorization of meaning are adopted as data analysis strategies.

This study explains the reasons why the level of internationalization across faculties is different.

This research helps gain rich understanding of faculty‐specific factors in terms of the degree of internationalization. Further research in this area is encouraged to test these faculty‐specific factors through quantitative population studies in other institutions.

Most faculty‐specific factors are management matters which can be improved by internal adjustment. HE internationalization cannot be conducted the same way in each faculty, but should be considered a part of faculties’ particular focus. These factors highlight the areas where the faculties need to improve, in order to better accommodate HE internationalization.

This research evaluates and identifies the faculty‐specific factors in relation to the level of internationalization from a faculty's standpoint. These critical factors are unique to HE internationalization and transferrable to other similar institutions.

This chapter examines the internationalisation of public higher education in Brazil using the theoretical triptych of internationalisation as developed by leading scholars in the field: internationalisation at home (IaH), internationalisation abroad (IA), and internationalisation at a distance (IaD). This framework – while rooted in knowledge, systems, and scholarship from researchers and institutions in the Global North – is a constructive tool for categorising and understanding internationalisation at Brazil’s higher education institutions (HEIs) when coupled with an exploration of the history, context, policy, and dynamics of internationalisation efforts. The chapter then summarises and underscores recent and important scholarship by Brazilian researchers and others in the Global South that describes the history of the nation’s internationalisation efforts. It also critiques the powerful influence that Global North-centred objectives and priorities for internationalisation have on the process at Brazilian HEIs. Following a discussion of the theoretical framework and relevant literature, the chapter provides a case study of internationalisation efforts and initiatives of an elite public university, the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Content analysis of UFMG’s website and publicly available reports and data demonstrates a high level of institutional internationalisation that has unfolded in recent years, stimulated by federal funding and guided by a strategic framework developed within the Ministry of Education. An analysis of UFMG’s mission, partnerships and programmes finds that the institution serves as an example of internationalisation in Brazil’s public higher education context, as its programmes and initiatives exemplify the overarching objectives of internationalisation in Brazilian higher education.

The purpose of this ontologically qualitative research study was to (a) explore student narratives regarding their educational experiences in at-home internationalization programs; (b) provide an in-depth narrative analysis of student learning challenges and achievements; and (c) add valuable research-based knowledge of student-described experiences for use by program administrators.

Participants were selected with a form of four-stage non-proportional stratified sampling. 29 participants were interviewed using a basic demographic questionnaire and an episodic interview protocol. Data were analyzed in QSR NVivo software through open, axial, and selective coding stages under the framework of grounded theory.

The findings focus on student-identified links between the challenges they encountered and their achievements. In addition, student performance level and gender were associated with the challenges and achievements reported by students. In understanding the results, the student-learning concepts found in the learned optimism, growth mindset, grit and expectancy theory approaches provide potentially fruitful insights.

The findings of this research have instructive implications for program administrators regarding how student challenges can be strategically chosen and shaped to generate specific, positive student achievements.

The purpose of the paper is to conceptualize international students’ perception on the internationalization of higher education in China and identify some challenges faced by some of the higher educational institutions (HEIs) in their internationalization practice.

This study utilized the qualitative research method, specifically, the researchers employed structured interview for investigation. The population of this research includes 15 international students and five Chinese professors teaching in BNU. Participants’ responses were categorized to provide a better understanding of the subject of study.

This study identified some push-pull factors that influenced international students’ decision making to pursue their studies in China. Some of the push factors identified include the high cost of graduate education, unavailability of some academic courses in some students’ home countries, international exposure, and unemployment, whereas the pull factors identified constitute scholarship opportunities, an alliance between BNU and others foreign universities, global job opportunity, universities’ prestige, and ranking, Chinese history and culture, and technological advancement. Finally, the challenges discovered are professors and students’ relationship, language barrier, separation of international and Chinese students, and lack of internship opportunities.

This study provides an in-depth understanding of the case presented and has outlined some key areas to be improved in the internationalization process of Chinese HEIs. Further studies in this area are encouraged to critically analyze foreign faculty members’ experiences and contributions to Chinese internationalization of HE process in different institutions and provide a substantial framework to help mitigate some of the challenges that will emerge.

This research collated and addressed the lived experiences and perception on matters relevant for international practices by Chinese HEIs. Researchers have explained the assumptions and theory used in this study to better understanding the issues that emerged.

This chapter aims to define comparative and international higher education (CIHE), describe its orientation and application, and reflect on research trends of the past five years. Research trends were identified through the review of panel sessions of the Higher Education Special Interest Group at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society between 2014 and 2018. These trends include a greater focus on equity, access, and affordability; competition, rankings, and status; partnerships (e.g., international and public–private); regional integration and mobility; and a continued interest in quality and accountability as well as understanding the internationalization at the institutional and system levels. This chapter suggests explanations for these trends, which relate closely to impacts of growing competition for funding in higher education and growing inequities in the world system of higher education. Lastly, it offers recommendations for how CIHE researchers can engage with practitioners to further address these inequities.

This study explores faculty members’ (FMs’) perceptions of the internationalization of curriculum (IoC) at the undergraduate level through the collection of data from two countries: Pakistan and the UK. The similarities and differences in internationalization strategies were explored. Historical and existing educational ties between the two contexts and an equally emerging focus on internationalization at home (IaH) provided a major cornerstone for this study.

Quantitative data were collected from two universities using a cross-sectional and comparative research design by employing a reliable and valid scale with three subscales: curriculum embedded in labor market information, curriculum embedded in employability skills and curriculum embedded in global citizenship (CGC). A comparison between the perceptions of these two universities, by taking perceptions of FMs across their disciplines, and experienced and less experienced FMs was made.

The findings indicate a global influence on the local context for IaH and the importance of experienced FM. Various disciplines in these universities are congruent with respect to these three subscales, except for one, the CGC for engineering and design. The findings reveal the global influences on the local contexts in the internationalization of curriculum and the relevance of experienced FMs in terms of curriculum and labor market experiences rather than years of service. The findings examine the importance of IaH in both contexts. Since the study was quantitative in nature, an in-depth understanding of FMs’ experiences could not be obtained.

Globalization and intercultural ties have led to IaH, as intercultural ties and connections seem to contribute to IoC. Context- and discipline-related differences provide implications for IoC, considering sociocultural and institutional factors.

This study provides a new perspective to help understand the influence of globalization on internationalizing higher education.

The purpose of the paper is to shed additional light on the Englishisation process in higher education (HE), by exploring the contentious and divisive nature of language changes and the different ways in which individual academics experience that process and craft ways of resisting institutional attempts to naturalise the use of the English language in teaching and scholarly writing.

Based on a self-ethnographic insider study in a Portuguese university setting, the data were gathered from multiple sources and over an extended period of time and presented as stories selected as illustrative examples of resistance.

The Englishisation process goes beyond language issues and tends to be associated with increasing competitive pressures and the implementation of international standards that might challenge the cultural mind-set and long-established practices; by exacerbating old political divisions and tensions, the Englishisation process uncovers a confrontation between different visions of the role and nature of the university that seems to co-exist and compete in the same setting – the community of scholars and the market-led university.

The paper adds to the debate on the implications of the Englishisation process in HE showing that resistance to the growing use of the English language might not be about the language after all. It is the full package that comes with the Englishisation process that really seems to matter.