Internationalization
Global Surveys
Since 2003, IAU has undertaken and published Global Surveys on internationalization of higher education providing unique data on trends and developments in the field.
As internationalization grows in importance, data and analysis on on the rationales that motivate universities, main activities they pursue, impacts it brings etc., are of utmost interest to policy makers.
Global Surveys on Internationalization of Higher Education (2003, 2005, 2010).
Using continuously improved questionnaires, yet safeguarding continuity, the IAU surveys both institutions and associations of higher education regularly to learn more about the state of internationalization policy and practice around the world. Three surveys have been done and published. A fourth is scheduled for 2013, with a possible publication in 2014.
Internationalization of Higher Education: Global Trends Regional Perspectives – the IAU 3rd Global Survey Report, published in 2010 is the most recent IAU publication to analyse this process at the global and regional levels.
Among numerous findings of the report are included the following:
• Internationalization is seen as more central to institution’s future planning, and is of greater and growing importance to HEI leaders, than ever before;
• At the global level, students, and their preparation for life in a globalized world are the main focus of internationalization within HEIs policies and activities;
• Institutions are quite single-minded in their approach to internationalization – at the aggregate level there is a close alignment between HEIs’ rationales for pursuing internationalization and the expected benefits they hope to gain from it;
• Why and how internationalization is pursued by institutions differs between regions. HEIs Africa and the Middle East seek develop and strengthen their research capacity while in all other regions the focus is on students’ learning;
• There is a strong pattern of intra-regional cooperation in internationalization activities conducted by HEIs, although Europe remains of highest geographic interest at the global level;
• Student mobility, although central to many internationalization policies, remains an opportunity reserved for the privileged few;
• The economic crisis is having a marked impact on internationalization, with lack of funding seen by HEIs worldwide as the most important internal and external barrier to internationalization.
The report includes more than one hundred Figures and Tables presenting, comparing and analyzing global (aggregate) results as well as those specific to the six world regions. Analysis of the regional findings is supplemented by commentaries from senior higher education experts in internationalization from each of the regions. Where appropriate, comparisons are drawn with the results of the IAU 2005 Global Survey on Internationalization, showing both continuity and change. A detailed analysis of how enrolment size affects the form and function of internationalization within HEIs and a review of the Association’s perspectives and role in internationalization is also included.
The report is based on responses from 745 higher education institutions and close to 20 national university associations in 115 different countries. The IAU 3rd Global Survey Report is therefore the most geographically comprehensive collection and analysis of primary data on internationalization of higher education ever undertaken.
For more information please contact Ross Hudson, IAU Programme Officer
To order the report, please complete and return the order form.
Internationalization of Higher Education: New Directions, New Challenges - 2005 IAU Global Survey Report
Second in the series, the 2005 IAU global survey expanded its geographical coverage and broadened the survey to include in addition to higher education institutions, university associations from around the world. At the start of 2005, questionnaires were sent to more than 3,000 higher education institutions, more than 100 national university associations and 17 regional university associations around the world.
Internationalization of Higher Education: Practices and Priorities - IAU Internationalization Survey 2003
In early 2003, the International Association of Universities surveyed its institutional members on the practices and priorities of internationalization at their institutions.
• Click here for the full report
Internationalization Strategies Advisory Service (ISAS)
The IAU offers the Internationalization Strategies Advisory Service (ISAS) to institutional leaders and teams interested in developing or reviewing their internationalization policy, strategy and various programs. ISAS is available to all HEIs, though IAU Members pay a reduced fee.
Higher Education Institutions around the world are finding that internationalization can no longer be a sideline in the overall strategic planning process or policy development. It is central to the definition of a high quality institution and an important consideration for IAU Members. Through its Internationalization Strategies Advisory Service, the International Association of Universities (IAU) can provide expert advice, up-to-date information and recommend approaches based on best practice around the world.
IAU has become renowned for its longstanding history of promoting, studying and documenting trends in internationalization of higher education and for sharing this knowledge globally. As IAU Members and others seek to increase the level of preparedness of their students for a more globalized world, to offer new mobility opportunities for faculty and staff, to review their curriculum for improved internationalization ‘at home’; to strengthen their strategic research alliances or to develop marketing approaches to attract more exchange or fee paying international students, they have asked IAU for assistance so that they can benefit from the best thinking and practice from institutions around the world.
To respond to this need, IAU launched this Advisory Service (ISAS) for institutional internationalization planning and development.
What is ISAS?
In a word, the goal of the ISAS service is to help the university clarify and refine its internationalization strategy. The approach is flexible, and can be tailored specifically to your institution’s needs should you have particular issues that you would like to probe or a particular timetable you would like to observe.
The engagement generally consists of a review of goals, activities, policies, and management structures for internationalization conducted by the institution with guidance along the way as required or requested (through phone and email consultation) and a Self-Assessment guide provided by IAU. Typically, a broadly representative working group is formed in the participating institution to conduct the review and write up a self-assessment report based on the findings. This aspect of the review generally takes between 6 months and an academic year to complete and write up.
Upon completion of the Self-Assessment review, IAU proposes a Panel of Experts who will visit your institution. The panel will be composed of three international experts from all regions of the world; it will include an individual who is familiar with your country and its higher education system. The panel is approved by your university. The panel spends two to three days on campus and meets with as many people and stakeholders in your institution as possible. At the conclusion of the visit, the panel provides preliminary feedback on your institution’s strategies and advice for future directions.
Following the visit, the Panel prepares a report including recommendations for action. The overall process takes eight to twelve months from start to finish allowing ample time for an interactive and inclusive process at the university, involving leadership, faculty, staff, and students.
The fee for the service includes the following:
• An initial visit to meet with the relevant people at your university to launch the process (I would undertake this visit)
• At least monthly phone calls (or as needed) with the chair and/or members of the working group and email consultations as you prepare the self-study
• Visit by panel of experts
• Report of the panel’s findings including recommendations for future actions
The fee does not include the travel and accommodation costs of the panel members who take part in the site visit or my initial visit (for more information on fees, please contact IAU at iau@iau-aiu.net)
All reports and written material prepared as part of this Advisory Service will be confidential and remain the property of the institution. The institution will have sole discretion to publish or disseminate these reports.
Who can make use of ISAS?
ISAS is designed to be useful to any Higher Education Institution committed to internationalization, large or small, in any part of the world, interested in developing, assessing, or improving its internationalization policy and plan. The overall goal is to help the institution reach its internationalization objectives.
Membership in IAU is not a requirement to use this Advisory Service, though priority and discounted fees will be offered to IAU Members.
Working with the IAU Advisory Service can help institutions to:
• Develop a new internationalization strategy or review and refine an existing one;
• Enhance the visibility of institutional goals and commitment to internationalization;
• Align internationalization with the wider institutional strategic planning process;
• Create institution-wide synergy and coherence among disparate education and research internationalization strategies;
• Assess the strengths and weakness of the existing strategies, organizational approaches, programs and activities used to reach internationalization objectives;
• Mobilize a more coherent institutional approach to developing internationalization activities;
• Demonstrate the overall importance assigned to internationalization by the institution.
Where can I find more information, and how can my institution apply?
Further information on the ISAS programme can be found in the ISAS brochure .
Requests for information can be sent to the association throughout the year. Interested institutions are invited to write to Mr. Ross Hudson, IAU Programme Officer at r.hudson@iau-aiu.net
Discussions about scope, timelines and other modalities will determine the next steps. ISAS Fee.
The ISAS service is available to all IAU Members and non-Member Higher Education Institutions on a fee basis. The fees are set annually and are non-inclusive of international travel for site visit by Expert Panel. They are established in accordance with the categories used for IAU membership fees, applying lower fees for institutions in low income countries than for those in high income countries.
To learn about the fees, please contact IAU at iau@iau-aiu.net .
Re-thinking internationalization
IAU International Ad-hoc Expert Group on Re-thinking Internationalization (The Ad-hoc Group)
Bringing together a growing number of scholars and practitioners who are questioning the current developments in internationalization, the Ad-hoc Group builds on the lively discussion that took place during the 4th IAU Global Meeting of Associations in Delhi, India, in April, 2011 and poses a number of conceptual questions:
Is the concept and the definition of internationalization keeping up with developments in higher education?
Is there a shared understanding of the concept?
Has internationalization lost sight of its central purposes?
IAU is posing these and other questions in a reflection directly in line with the findings of the 3rd Global Survey on Internationalization.
The Survey clearly points out the differences in why internationalization is pursued in different parts of the world and how it impacts on various institutions in vastly diverse contexts. Furthermore, this initiative is a natural sequel to past normative efforts of the Association, such as the Policy Statement and Declaration and Checklist for Good Practice.
The Ad-hoc Group brings together perspectives from all parts of the world inter alia to: assess the extent to which internationalization activities fit the current conceptual umbrella, to critically examine the causes that are leading to some questioning and even criticism of the concept and to investigate the ways to address these concerns. The Group has met for the first time 'virtually' in July 2011. The Agenda lists the main questions and issues that were covered.
The Notes, prepared by IAU following this first meeting, summarize what was actually a wide ranging beginning to a rich discussion. IAU and all the members of the Group are committed to continue this discussion and move forward in concrete ways in an effort to reposition/reinvent internationalization as a valuable and transformative process of change in higher education in the current context.
For example in April 2012 the IAU published - Affirming Academic Values in Internationalization of Higher Education: A Call for Action
This new IAU Call for Action, which is available here is the main output of the Ad-hoc Group, to date.
The Call is also available in French and in Spanish.
In addition, several group members also contributed to a special double issue of IAU Horizons, whose In–Focus theme was on the topic of Re-thinking Internationalization. Published in early 2012, the magazine (Vol.17 No.3 and Vol.18 No.1 ) can be viewed here
Since the publication of the Call all Group members have agreed to keep moving the re-thinking internationalization agenda forward, and sharing inputs that various audiences may make to the discussion.
Finally, IAU will be building a virtual space for sharing related papers and documents on its webpages devoted to internationalization. Should you have a paper or a presentation that you wish to make known to the Group, or simply to comment on this initiative, please contact Eva Egron-Polak or Ross Hudson.
Policy Statements
From its unique stand point as a global association of institutions and organizations of higher education, IAU has developed advocacy positions on key issues including on internationalization of higher education.
IAU Internationalization Policy Statements
• Affirming Academic Values in Internationalization of Higher Education: A Call for Action, 2012
Published in April 2012, the Call for Action is the key output of the IAU Ad-hoc Expert Group on Re-thinking Internationalization. The Call is also available in French and in Spanish.
• Sharing Quality Higher Education Across Borders: A Checklist for Good Practice, 2006.
As follow-up to the 2004 statement, the same four Associations (the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and the International Association of Universities (IAU) elaborated a practical Checklist for Good Practice to be used by institutions. The Checklist is designed as a tool to help institutions ensure that the principles promoted by the Statement were being respected.
The statement identified a set of principles that should guide the provision of cross-border education and set forth a series of recommendations. This document, was prepared by the IAU, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and was circulated to higher education membership associations worldwide for comment in 2004.
• Towards a Century of Cooperation: Internationalization of Higher Education, 2000.
Prepared for the UNESCO World Conference in Higher Education 1998, formally adopted by the 11th IAU General Conference as part of the IAU Policy 2000.