Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education

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Research on internationalisation in higher

education – exploratory analysis

Miri Yemini & Netta Sagie

To cite this article: Miri Yemini & Netta Sagie (2016) Research on internationalisation in higher
education – exploratory analysis, Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 20:2-3,
90-98, DOI: 10.1080/13603108.2015.1062057

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2015.1062057

Published online: 28 Jul 2015.

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 PERSPECTIVES: POLICY AND PRACTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 2016
90 Vol. 20, Nos. 2–3, 90–98, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2015.1062057

perspective
Research on internationalisation in
higher education – exploratory
analysis
Miri Yemini and Netta Sagie
School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel

Research on internationalisation in higher education has dramatically expanded over the last several
decades. This study aims to provide an overview of the research developments undertaken between
1980 and 2014, on internationalisation in higher education. Explorative, systematic literature screening
and analysis were undertaken, encompassing over 7,000 scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed
journals during that period. A novel methodology was developed for collecting, screening, coding, and
analysing the gathered data. Through the coding system employed, specific trends were identified and
quantified in research on internationalisation within regions, countries, disciplines, years, and subjects
of study. Several patterns were revealed, reflecting changing trends in research focusing on internatio-
nalisation in education, regarding differences over time and different areas of the world. The findings
provide a glimpse into the changing directions research on internationalisation in higher education
has taken, and might ignite the discussion of future directions and transformations.

Keywords: internationalisation; higher education; exploratory analysis

Introduction makers worldwide (de Wit 2011a; Knight 2013). This

Since the last decades of the twentieth century, the
theme of internationalisation in higher education has
gained increasing attention by scholars and policy-
Miri Yemini is a lecturer and
researcher at Tel Aviv
University’s Jaime and Joan
Constantiner School of
Education. Her main research
interests include
entrepreneurship in schools
and internationalisation of
secondary education and
higher education. Address for correspondence: School
of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv
69978, Israel. Email: miriye@post.tau.ac.il
Netta Sagie is a doctoral
student at Tel Aviv University’s
Jaime and Joan Constantiner
School of Education. Her main
research interests include
educational entrepreneurship.
growing interest has translated into the active develop-
ment of policies, programmes, and infrastructure at the
institutional, local, national, and global levels. Interna-
tionalisation has become such an abundant and obvious
goal that some researchers claim the term is abused and
has lost its meaning. As such, the discourse has shifted
towards the dangers of this process and its socio-politi-
cal and economic meanings (de Wit 2011a; Knight
2013).
This current study offers an exploratory and sys-
tematic screening and analysis of academic research
published in the field of internationalisation in
higher education between the years 1980 and 2014.
For this purpose, relevant publications (according to
the defined scope) were screened and categorised,1
and patterns were identified in terms of unique
period-specific and country-specific research trends
and directions. This article is structured as follows:
firstly, the framework for the current discussion
and screening of existing studies, dedicated to the
analysis of research trends, are provided; secondly,
the research methodology is presented, followed by
a discussion and analysis of the findings; and in
conclusion, practical and theoretical implications are
offered.

# 2015 Taylor & Francis


Background
Internationalisation in higher education –
short background
Jane Knight’s definition of Internationalisation is
perhaps the most widely accepted (2004, 26): the
process of integrating an international, intercultural,
and global dimension into the purpose, functions
(teaching, research, and service), and delivery of
higher education. Some scholars argue that the tra-
dition of cross-border academic exchanges goes back
to spontaneous, continuous, and organic processes cul-
tivated within the nascent universities of medieval
Europe (Altbach and Teichler 2001; Jones and Olek-
siyenko 2011). Clearly, however, the regularisation
and modernisation of such activities came about at a
later stage, with the advent of nation-states and the
institutionalisation of a common academic culture (de
Wit 2002). Contrary to globalisation, which is con-
tested and questioned as to its meanings and conse-
quences, internationalisation in higher education has
become an axiomatic concept of good quality during
the last three decades, in academic terminology,
mostly alongside massive transformation processes that
higher education systems worldwide have undergone
(Marginson and Rhoades 2002).
In most countries, internationalisation has become
an increasingly important aspect of higher education
and moved from the margins to the centre of the aca-
demic enterprise (de Wit 2011b). Directors of higher
education institutions are striving to internationalise
their institutions for economic, political, academic,
and socio-cultural reasons (de Wit 2002; Hudzik
2011), and governments invest increasing resources in
this process. Enders (2004, 365) notes the emergence
of a greater emphasis on international influences in
higher education because ‘the narrative of globaliza-
tion . . . is not just a narrative but an ideology with mul-
tiple meanings and linkages’.
Brandenburg and de-Wit (2011) ignited discourse on
the future directions of internationalisation by defining
the current era as ‘the end of internationalization’, ques-
tioning the axiom that a successful higher education
necessarily requires engagement in internationalisation.
Hence, the discourse has evolved from a focus on inter-
nationalisation’s increasing importance in education
(giving benefits such as improving academic quality
and accessibility of education for diverse populations,
promoting international scientific research, and
strengthening the independence of educational insti-
tutions) to a mounting critique regarding the process’s
utility and the erroneous manner in which countries
and higher education institutions interpret its
meaning. This critique attributes many negative impli-
cations to internationalisation, pegged to neoliberalism
within the socio-economic discourse. Such critiques
emphasise the danger inherent in continuing, and
expanding, the hegemony of English to the neglect of
PERSPECTIVE 91
local languages (Choi 2010; Le Ha 2013). Moreover,
they lament the control over educational attainment
wielded by western, developed countries – particularly
the USA – by means of their budgetary superiority,
which enables them to attract human resources from
abroad while sapping developing countries, and even
certain developed countries, of their most talented stu-
dents and faculty (Yemini 2014). Indeed, ‘brain drain’
has become one of the main problems in small and less
developed countries, and immigration laws in several
regions have been passed to help protect local commu-
nities (Fan and Stark 2007). Finally, critics have con-
tested universities’ cynical use of internationalisation
activities to advance their placement in certain measures
within university ranking systems, as well as the domi-
nance of financial factors that have overtaken the inter-
nationalisation venture at the expense of other rationales
(Branderburg and de Wit 2011). Such critics express
disdain regarding the power of economic and political
considerations that internationalisation introduces to
the detriment of academic and social rationales. While
the academic discourse on the future of internationalisa-
tion h s become louder and more widespread, several
attempts have been made to shape the cumulative
understanding of the current and past research in the
area of internationalisation in higher education. Those
attempts are important in providing an understanding
of discourse analysis in this field, which could lead to
the upgrading of the framework used for policy-
making and future research.
Outcomes of past research review efforts
Several studies have aimed to provide an overview of
the research undertaken on internationalisation in
higher education; and most of these are concerned
with specific subjects such as research on online learn-
ing (Wallace 2003), international students (Abdullah,
Aziz, and Ibrahim 2013), and international education
(Dolby and Rahman 2008). Kehm and Teichler
(2007) characterise the main topics in research on inter-
nationalisation in higher education as: mobility of
student and staff; mutual influences of higher education
systems on each other; internationalisation of teaching,
learning, and research; strategies to internationalise;
knowledge transfer; modes of cooperation and compe-
tition; and national and sub-national policies regarding
the international dimension of higher education. Their
review has been widely cited and offers a great number
of intriguing insights but suffers from certain methodo-
logical weaknesses, including the lack of a systematic
approach and relatively limited quantitative analysis.
Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2006) have explored
the marketing of higher education and universities in
an international context. They systematically collected,
reviewed, scrutinised, and critically analysed the rel-
evant research literature between 1992 and 2004. In
92 MIRI YEMINI AND NETTA SAGIE
addition, several other reviews aimed to provide an
overview of the future of higher education research;
indeed, internationalisation in higher education was
one of the most prominent topics that emerged. For
example, Teichler (2003) considers the need to research
potential future directions of higher education; and
according to one of his studies, internationalisation
became a key issue in debates on higher education in
most European countries during the 1990s and is
likely to remain high on the agenda in the future.
Teichler also identifies areas in the internationalisation
of higher education that researchers should further
examine. In a later study (2005), Teichler addresses
general issues and selected developments in individual
European countries. As part of this latter study, he dis-
cusses the growing internationalisation of higher edu-
cation research in Europe and argues that
international organisations played an important role
in promoting higher education research. Saarinen and
Ursin (2012) identify different approaches to higher
education policy change through the prism of interna-
tionalisation, based on an analysis of recent literature on
higher education policy change.
Existing literature reviews focus on specific themes
and aspects of internationalisation in higher education
or discuss higher education in general, but identify
internationalisation as one of the most prominent
themes emerging in the field. In contrast, this study
provides a novel, systematic, and longitudinal screening
and analysis of the over 7,000 existing academic publi-
cations on internationalisation in higher education,
thereby substantially advancing the existing body of
knowledge regarding this phenomenon and offering
new insights into the field itself and its past, current,
and even future developments.
Methodology
Systematic literature reviews have their origin in the
medical field and have been adopted in the social
sciences, including education (Hemsley-Brown and
Oplatka 2006; Oplatka and Addi-Raccah 2009; Tran-
field, Denyer, and Smart 2003). As Tranfield and col-
leagues state, this method ‘helps develop a reliable
knowledge base by accumulating knowledge from a
range of studies’ (Tranfield, Denyer, and Smart 2003,
220). The objectives of the present study are to identify
the current and future trends and themes in research lit-
erature on internationalisation in higher education, to
highlight the gaps in research literature, to highlight
progress in the field, to predict future directions, and
to offer recommendations for further research within
this field.
The research on internationalisation of higher edu-
cation is vast and published in many languages. This
study focuses on peer-reviewed publications in journals
published in English and listed in the major inter-
national databases that are relevant to the field of
research. Comprising most of the English-language
articles published on internationalisation in higher edu-
cation over the years, this review presents a thought-
provoking picture of research literature on internatio-
nalisation in higher education.
Search strategy and sample
One of the biggest challenges of this study was to
develop and refine a comprehensive and accurate
search strategy, including identification and selection
of databases, key words, and criteria for inclusion of
articles in this review. Below, key elements of the meth-
odological approach applied are discussed.
Identification and selection criteria for articles
All relevant literature in the field was intended to be
included; however, books were excluded because
their identification of peer-reviewed publications is
less obvious through the search engines used.
In order to avoid overlooking pertinent articles, no
restrictions were placed on the types of articles (i.e.
quantitative, qualitative, narrative, or theoretical), on
the quality of the articles (e.g. impact factor), or on
the date of publication. Hence, the search criteria
were defined as peer-reviewed academic articles in
the English language related to internationalisation in
higher education. Where possible, these limits were
applied through electronic title searches; elsewhere,
the reviewers checked titles and abstracts manually, as
elaborated below.
Identification and selection of databases
At first, articles meeting the above criteria were ident-
ified through a search in the Web of Science database;
however, during the search process it was realised that
this source did not provide a complete and comprehen-
sive picture of the research literature on internationali-
sation in higher education. Therefore, two additional
electronic online databases were added: the Educational
Resources Information Centre (ERIC) and Education
Source (EBSCO). Through the use of these three
major databases, the inclusion of all relevant articles
was ensured to the fullest extent possible.
Key words applied in the search
Creation of a strong conceptual framework and a deeper
understanding of the research into internationalisation2;
in higher education was the goal. Thus, the aim was to
map all of the relevant studies that included both the sub-
jects (internationalisation and higher education). At
first, the word ‘internationalisation’ was selected and
combined in every possible way with the terms and
words describing higher education (higher education,
college, colleges, university, and universities). In order
to cover British and American spellings, both versions

of these words, spelled alternately with ‘s’ and ‘z’, were
used (i.e. ‘globalisation’ and ‘globalization’, and ‘inter-
nationalisation’ and ‘internationalization’). In addition,
the search was conducted using the verb and gerund
forms of such words (i.e. ‘internationalize’ and ‘interna-
tionalizing’), each in both their British and American
spellings.
Sample
The search yielded 8,423 theoretical and empirical
articles.3 At this stage, however, the relevance of each
of the articles to the subject of internationalisation in
higher education had not yet been checked.
Data gathering method within the
identified sample
During the next stage, all relevant background infor-
mation on the articles (authors, date of publication,
abstract, title, data source, and journal name) that
emerged in the sample was gathered and unified into
one customised data set, so as to identify duplicate
papers within the three databases searched. In order
to do this, all relevant information for each article
from all the databases was exported to the reference
management software, Refworks. Then, following
the removal of 1,234 duplicates, 7,189 papers remained
in the sample. Next, the background information for
each of the remaining hits, of full articles, was exported
into an Excel data sheet and categorised accordingly.
Coding and analysis method
The methodology employed in the study combines
both quantitative and qualitative methods. After gath-
ering the data in a way that enabled the exploration
of findings and construction of a typology, a specially
developed coding system was employed to identify
and quantify specific trends in the research of interna-
tionalisation according to regions, countries, disci-
plines, years, and subjects of study. Thus, the coding
and analysis process was organised around the following
central issues: the relevance of the article to the subject
of this study (internationalisation in higher education);
the geographical area that the article deals with (if avail-
able, in other words if mentioned either in the title or
in the abstract); the main topic discussed in the article;
and the academic discipline (field of study, again if
available) in which the article was anchored. Thus,
each article was coded with four variables: relevance
(did it indeed concern internationalisation in higher
education?), geographical area that the study was con-
centrated on (as stated by the authors in the abstract),
main theme, and academic discipline (if the study was
related to a specific discipline). Given the large-scale
analysis employed in this study, findings were based
on a screening and exploration of the articles’ abstracts
and titles (not full texts).
PERSPECTIVE 93
During the first stage, a group of four researchers
(including the authors of this analysis) examined the
abstract of each article to determine if it matched the
inclusion criteria. Each article was then classified as ‘rel-
evant’ (value ¼ 1) or ‘irrelevant’ (value ¼ 0). Only rel-
evant articles were further coded. Overall, 1,504
articles met the inclusion criteria and were coded for
all variables. Next, to prepare the coding system, the
authors screened a large variety of abstracts within the
relevant sample; identified specific themes, geographi-
cal areas,4 and academic disciplines (as discussed
above); and placed each article on three lists that rep-
resented the three factors. The authors then met to
finalise the categories and provide each factor with a
different numerical value. Subsequently, a group of
four researchers (including the authors) coded each
article according to its abstract for each of the above
variables, assigning the values determined in the prior
stage for each factor.
Hence, the analysis is based on categories that
emerged from the coding of abstracts. Each article
was matched to the identified categories, adhering to
the common categories as much as possible before
creating new ones. When a certain article did not
match any of the existing categories, a new category
was agreed upon. Throughout the coding and analysis
processes, when the matches were unclear, articles were
marked as ‘under discussion’ and ultimately reviewed
by the lead author for final classification.
Results and discussion
In most countries in the last two decades, internationa-
lisation has become an increasingly important aspect of
higher education and moved from the margins of insti-
tutional interest to the centre of the academic enter-
prise (Brandenburg and de Wit 2011). As discussed
above, this study aims to shed light on some character-
istics of the research on internationalisation in higher
education and to explore developments in the field
over the years, as reflected in the literature.
First, all the gathered data of academic research pub-
lished in regard to internationalisation in higher edu-
cation were categorised according to the publication
date and were divided into four time periods5
(1980 – 1993, 1994 – 2000, 2001 – 2006, and 2007 –
2013). Next, since the general number of all academic
publications in this field had increased over the years,
the ratio between the growth rates of publications on
the broad topic of higher education and those specifi-
cally pertaining to internationalisation in higher edu-
cation in each period was examined. Thereafter, the
EBSCO6 database was searched for the quantity of
peer-reviewed academic articles related to higher edu-
cation in general7 (in each period examined).
Figure 1 depicts the data discussed above, categorised
by the publication date, as a percentage of all publi-
cations within the examined periods for each of the
94 MIRI YEMINI AND NETTA SAGIE

education, additional screening was conducted and all

recorded data were categorised by main category, geo-
graphical area, and field of study (as described in the
Methodology section).
Table 1 presents the ten most abundant categories
that emerged from the relevant literature. The
number of publications related to each category is pre-
sented as a percentage of the total number of relevant
publications over the years. Notably, since the analysis
is quantitative rather than qualitative, the data presented
do not reflect the importance of the research per-
formed. Additional research might take into account
parameters such as the impact factor of the journal
where the study was published or other measures unex-
Figure 1. Publications on the broad topic of plored here. This research is limited to the publications’
higher education and the specific topic of quantitative aspects, which may, at times, be deceptive,
internationalisation in higher education, but nevertheless provide insight into various identifi-
divided into four time periods from 1980 to able trends.
2013, as a percentage of all publications on Table 1 presents the ten main themes that emerged in
each of the subjects within each examined the relevant literature over the years. As the table
time frame. reveals, the most dominant category in the literature
was internationalisation at home (27.2% of all hits),
searches (when 100% were defined for internationalisa- which is a term used for describing those aspects of
tion within higher education and for higher education internationalisation activities and strategies that occur
separately, one with higher education and internationa- at the institutional level (on a home campus), and in
lisation and the second one with higher education only). the intercultural and international dimensions in teach-
Figure 1 reflects a clear increase in the intensity of ing and learning processes, extra-curricular activities,
research in the field of internationalisation in higher and relationships with local cultural and ethnic groups
education in the last seven years, specifically in relation (Knight 2004). Internationalisation at home includes
to the amount of research in the general field of higher all campus-based activities, such as seminars, work-
education. While the percentage of publications on shops, extra-curricular activities, summer school pro-
internationalisation in higher education is greater, the grammes, and guest lectures, which involve
research on higher education in general also increased international experience without the actual mobility
during the same time period. This finding indicates component (Jowi 2009). The second most dominant
the increasing importance of internationalisation in theme in the relevant literature over the years was
higher education research over the last decade and student mobility (9.6% of all hits). This finding indi-
the focus on internationalisation at universities (as per cates a focus on mobile students and the challenges of
Dolby and Rahman 2008). teaching and learning associated with the increasing
To further understand the trends and directions of diversity of the student population (Robson 2011).
research in the field of internationalisation in higher Following several decades of development in the
field of internationalisation in higher education, it has
grown in scale, scope, and importance and transformed
Percentage of
the world of higher education; however, this phenom-
Category appearance
enon has also undergone fundamental changes itself
Internationalisation at home 27.2 (Knight 2013). The next table presents a breakdown
Student mobility 9.6 of the research areas in the field of internationalisation,
National internationalisation 8.3 in light of its development over the years. This docu-
policies mentation of changing study trends contributes to an
Internationalisation abroad 7.9 improved understanding of past and present develop-
English as a lingua franca 4.9 ment patterns in this realm of research. Table 2 presents
ICT/online learning 4.1 the most common topics covered by studies on interna-
Competition 4 tionalisation in higher education during four periods:
Multicultural issues 3.9
1980 – 1993, 1994 – 2000, 2001 – 2006, and 2007 –
Quality assurance 2.1
2013.
Lifelong/adult learning 1.9
Table 2 shows the distribution of different topics
Table 1. Ten dominant themes explored in during the time periods examined. The table reveals
publications on internationalisation in that one of the areas of study that most significantly
higher education expanded in relation to others during these years was
 PERSPECTIVE 95

1980–1993 1994–2000 2001–2006 2007–2013

Internationalisation at home 36.74 10.61 10.29 9.14

Student mobility 7.83 6.95 6.33 11.84
Internationalisation policies 6.02 8.60 11.52 9.69
Internationalisation abroad 12.04 7.78 11.31 9.77
English as a lingua franca 15.66 2.00 6.86 12.09
ICT/online learning 0 11.79 9.97 9.95
Competition 12.04 3.53 12.54 9.78
Multicultural issues 0 2.59 8.33 11.86
Quality assurance 9.63 11.32 14.46 8.17
Lifelong/adult learning 0 34.78 8.33 7.68

Table 2. Most common issues covered by internationalisation in higher education publications

within four time periods: 1980 –1993, 1994 –2000, 2001– 2006, and 2007 –2013, as a percentage
of issues covered by all publications on internationalisation in higher education within each
time period

student mobility (rising from 7.83% in the first period
to 11.84% in the last period). Additionally, during
this time period the importance of recruiting foreign
students became a significant factor for institutional
income and national economic interests (Qiang
2003), and it is reflected in the massively large percen-
tage increase in the studies on multicultural issues,
which rose from 0% in the first period to 11.86% in
the last period. This category refers to research into
higher education institutions’ aim of instilling their
learners with multicultural abilities. The use of the
term ‘multicultural education’ is designed to reinforce
and facilitate the development of and respect for
others, together with the desire to establish uniform
and shared components (see discussion in Yemini
2014). Thus, alongside the significant expansion in
recruitment of foreign students, it is becoming increas-
ingly important to emphasise intercultural learning so
as to facilitate effective communication with students
from diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds;
elaborate pedagogical approaches; utilise the experi-
ences of multiethnic student groups; and facilitate
student acquisition of intercultural competencies
(Stier 2006).
Beyond the above-mentioned categories, Table 2
presents an interesting picture regarding the Infor-
mation and Communication Technologies (ICT)/
online learning category, which demonstrated a
growth from no publications in the first period to
almost 10% of all publications in the last period. The
lack of research into this field in the early decades is
hardly surprising, since online learning opportunities
emerged only later, for the most part. The massive
importance of ICT/online learning in the last
decades reflects its integration as a key component of
the academic transformation of the twenty-first
century. ICTs bring a unique dimension to the interna-
tionalisation of higher education, as they offer many
new opportunities to internationalise the curriculum
and the learning experiences of students, as well as
teach a more diverse range of students (Leask 2004);
thus, they significantly help to widen access to higher
education. The dramatic expansion of research on
ICTs over the years reflects the acknowledgement uni-
versities have given to the role ICTs have in their daily
activities (Jowi 2009).
Subsequently, the intention was to dive into specific
trends according to regions, and thus three regions/
countries that were found to have a larger volume of
publications became the focus. In Figure 2, internatio-
nalisation research trends from three countries/regions
that contribute substantially to the research on interna-
tionalisation in higher education were the focus: the
USA, the EU, and China. Only articles where geo-
graphical/political regions were mentioned in their
title or abstract were included, usually implying that
the article dealt with internationalisation in that specific
region. Higher education in these three regions differs
greatly in many aspects: culturally; proportionally, in
regards to international students; and intensity-wise,
in regards to the focus on internationalisation in their
respective higher education systems.
As Figure 2 indicates, the most dominant areas of
research in the USA involve internationalisation at
home and student mobility. This trend reflects the sig-
nificant efforts of higher education institutions in the
USA during the 1980s and 1990s to internationalise
and offer new international opportunities to students
and faculty members (Stohl 2007). In addition, inter-
national students have a strong presence within US
higher education institutions; indeed, nearly 765,000
international students studied in the USA in 2012.
The substantial presence of international students on
campuses accelerates processes of internationalising
the curriculum (Urban and Palmer 2013) and promotes
activities and strategies at the institutional level, as
reflected in the large interest in curricular internationa-
lisation and internationalisation at home in research in
the USA.
With regard to China, it is no surprise that the most
dominant field of research investigates students’ mobi-
lity (as the other side of the coin of US research trends).
96 MIRI YEMINI AND NETTA SAGIE
Figure 2. Research into internationalisation trends in the USA, EU, and China – abundance
within main categories.
As discussed above, the Chinese central government
has embraced internationalisation in recent decades
(Altbach 2013) and played an active role in promoting
economic openness, with some policies aimed at inte-
grating international norms into the Chinese higher
education system. Regarding the EU, Figure 2 shows
that the key research interests in the EU involve inter-
nationalisation at home and national policies of inter-
nationalisation, usually in connection with the
Bologna process, which is relevant to the EU countries
only. An additional figure that should be pointed out in
regard to the EU, in comparison to the USA and
China, is the percentage of studies dealing with
quality assurance and internationalisation, which are
almost absent in other regions. This might also be
explained by the importance given to this subject
within the Bologna framework (Jeliazkova and Wester-
heijden 2002).
Conclusions
Over the last two decades, international activities at uni-
versities have dramatically expanded in volume, scope,
and complexity. A vivid multidimensional and multidisci-
plinary discourse is being developed around the future of
internationalisation and its possible implications on higher
education institutions and on society as a whole. This
study presents an exploratory analysis of the state of aca-
demic research in the field of internationalisation in
higher education, followed by a systematic analysis of
existing publications, sub-categorisation, chronological
framing, and identification of region-specific micro
trends. Internationalisation, together with tremendous
economic and technological transformations in many
regions worldwide, has become an extremely important
phenomenon in the global higher education system. Edu-
cation to create a ‘global competency’ or ‘global citizen-
ship’ requires a proper response from higher education
systems in terms of real internationalisation. The dramatic
economic, cultural, technological, and other changes that
have taken place over the last decades have tremendously
affected the world of education. These global trends from
other areas are constantly integrated into the academic
world, further elevating current internationalisation
trends. This research shows how the multicultural and
intercultural dimensions of internationalisation have
become more prominent, together with an increasing
focus on internationalisation at home, compared to the
previous focus on activities abroad and physical mobility.
These trends, accompanied with an increase in research
on the technological dimensions of internationalisation,
signal that the definition of this process must be trans-
formed as well (Yemini 2014). This analysis also shows
how internationalisation research follows the actual devel-
opments in the field, and provides an analytical tool that
can serve scholars who are studying specific trends in
specific areas. The findings show the changing foci of
research in the area of internationalisation, phenomena
that might influence actual policy on the subject.
In this study, the main types and trends in research on
internationalisation in higher education have been
identified and placed in proper context. This has
enabled insights to be made in regard to the develop-
ments that took place in the field, such as the abundance
of specific themes (e.g. internationalisation at home,
international students, national policies, and internatio-
nalisation abroad), as well as trends in geographical and
disciplinal distribution in the research. The subjects

that are of interest to scholars in all peer-reviewed jour-
nals published in English were revealed, and instead of
analysing the articles according to a previously defined
list of subjects, the subjects were followed as they
appeared, were defined within the articles, and were
categorised accordingly. Thus, the areas of research
that were found here are those that gained the academic
attention from scholars around the world. In addition,
the shifting of categories over time and the emergence
of new subjects and research scopes were shown. For
example, a rise in scholastic attention can be found in
two subjects: student mobility and multicultural issues,
which are both connected to the increasing physical
mobility of students and engagement with intercultural
issues resulting from such movements.
Internationalisation is an extremely complex process
that faces various barriers, and comprises multiple
elements. With its pros and cons, internationalisation
is valuable for the future of higher education worldwide.
After several decades of an increasing volume of
research in the field of internationalisation in higher
education, the time has come to rethink and redefine
what the achievement of internationalisation should
be considered to be, what goals internationalisation
should promote, and what the future of internationali-
sation should look like. A diachronic picture of the
changing foci within the research in the field is pre-
sented in this study, providing the readers with a
glimpse into possible future dimensions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the
authors.
Notes
1. The focus was on publications in English, published in peer-reviewed
journals.
2. The academic discourse on internationalisation is complex and fragmen-
ted, involving several under-defined and sometimes conflicting terms
(Yemini 2014), such as ‘internationalisation’ itself (Yemini 2012), ‘globali-
sation in education’ (Foskett and Maringe 2010; Stromquist 2013), and
‘international education’ (Knight 2004). This research focuses on the
term ‘internationalisation’. Notably, the scope of this study was neither
to establish the superiority of any given definition for these terms, nor
to explain the boundaries and relevance of these terms. The focus was
on studies that mentioned the term ‘internationalisation’ in their title or
abstract, since the aim was to conceptualise the development of this specific
field of research as defined by the researchers themselves.
3. The search in WOS yielded 1,134 articles, the search in the ERIC yielded
1,020 articles, and the search in EBSCO yielded 6,363 articles.
4. It was decided that the geographical areas would be coded according to
how they were presented by the researchers; thus, some of the codes
refer to political entities such as the EU rather than purely geographical
regions.
5. The first period is twice as long as the other periods (each of them six years
long) since the articles on internationalisation were scarce as appeared in
the analysis.
6. The search for publications on higher education could not be conducted in
all three databases because this search would have yielded duplicate results
PERSPECTIVE 97
and hence would be misleading. Therefore, since most hits from the search
on internationalisation in higher education emerged in the EBSCO data-
base, the general search on higher education was limited to this specific
database.
7. The key words used: ‘higher education’, ‘universities’, and ‘colleges’.
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