National Policies for Higher Education Internationalization: A Global Comparative Perspective

The internationalization of higher education is widely considered as a strategic priority for governments around the world because of the economic, political, social, and academic benefits associated with it. Starting from the premise that the nation-state plays a central role in the process of internationalizing higher education, the paper argues that it is important to take stock of the current state of affairs and ask: what are nation-states doing to internationalize higher education? The paper presents original data on the spread of national internationalization policies around the world. It finds that strategic thinking about internationalization is a relatively new phenomenon with limited coverage. In terms of the number of countries that adopt national policies, the analysis finds a world dominated by scattered efforts when it comes to higher education internationalization. Why is the absence of a national strategy problematic? In countries where universities are largely dependent on public money, having no coherent direction for internationalization at the national level can limit the scope and undermine the effectiveness of internationalization strategies at the institutional level.