Universities throughout the world are increasingly focused on internationalizing, but their reasons, and the ways in which they proceed, vary widely by region. These are among the findings in a new report, “Internationalization of Higher Education: Global Trends, Regional Perspectives,” from the International Association of Universities.
The report is based on a survey of more than 750 higher-education institutions and national university associations in 115 countries. The survey found that institutions in Africa and the Middle East are focused on internationalization to develop their research capacity, while in most other parts of the world the focus is more on student learning.
The report, the third global survey by the Paris-based organization, also found that the worldwide economic crisis had a significant impact on universities’ efforts at internationalization. One “striking difference” between the findings of the previous survey, in 2005, and this one is that a lack of financial resources was not cited as a major obstacle to internationalization in the earlier survey, but by 2009 had become a leading impediment.
