Internationalization of higher education institutions: the underestimated role of faculty

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deal with the topic internationalization of higher education institutions (IHEI), in terms of the research they engage in. The main motivation for the study is to understand the role of researchers in the internationalization of the institutions in which they work through the academic activities they perform. Based on the assumption that each of the researcher’s internationalization activities leads, to some extent, to a greater internationalization of HEI in which it operates, the following question was proposed: Do researchers’ personal characteristics and academic activities affect the internationalization of their (higher education) institutions? Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study adopted as main methods a review of the literature on internationalization of higher education and in-depth interviews based on a semi-structured script with an intentional sample. A sample of 16 researchers was selected for interview using the snowball technique of sample selection. Findings The paper provides theoretical and empirical insights into the characteristics of researchers that influence the internationalization of HEIs. These include the researchers’ international academic experience; insertion in international collaboration networks; international co-authorship; and experience in international publications. These are the four main factors that emerge at the individual level (researcher) that positively impact IHEI. Originality/value The paper responds to a gap found in the literature on the underestimated role of researchers in the internationalization process of HEIs in which they work.

Enhancing student engagement through heterogeneous pedagogical approaches: action research in a university level course in Saudi Arabia

“…Second, universities nowadays are heading towards increasing diversity and internationalization, where students from different academic and ethnic backgrounds constitute learning cohorts (Romani-Dias et al , 2019). Moreover, students with similar backgrounds differ substantially in their learning models Gardner (1993), let alone differences in ethnic groups (Heng, 2019).…”

Internacionalización de la investigación: Concepciones y percepciones del profesorado hondureño

“…Esto es, conocer las ideas, opiniones, valoraciones e imágenes que tienen sobre esta cuestión. Esta información es, sin duda, de gran utilidad para el diseño de las políticas públicas relacionadas con la internacionalización de la investigación, pues el profesorado desempeña un papel determinante en el desarrollo de la dimensión internacional de la actividad científica (Romani-Dias et al, 2019).…”

Internationalization in higher education: faculty tradeoffs under the social exchange theory

“…Although faculty members are involved in most of the internationalization activities in higher education and may even be the main agents that propel the phenomenon (Dewey and Duff, 2009;Rostan, Ceravolo and Metcalfe, 2014), few studies have examined the influence of these individuals on IHE and, more specifically, on their educational institutions (Romani-Dias et al, 2019). In fact, most of the studies that addressed the individual level of analysis have tended to focus on students as part of the IHE process (see Bryla, 2018;Guo and Guo, 2017;Jones, 2017;Kratz and Netz, 2018).…”