This lecture is part of the HUMANE Winter School hosted by the Barcelona School of Management in March 2024. HUMANE (https://www.humane.eu) is Europe’s international network of higher education professionals. It aims to build global networks of professionals, foster innovation in higher education services and drive professional excellence in higher education management. This lecture addresses the following questions: 1. What are the drivers of the internationalisation of higher education? 2. What are the benefits of internationalisation? 3. How has internationalisation led to the commercialisation of higher education in Anglophone countries? 4. How are the factors shaping the internationalisation of higher education changing? It uses the University of Limerick's new "Action through Partnership: Global Engagement Strategy 2023-28" to illustrate the challenges and trade-offs when trying to balance internationalisation with a commitment to sustainable development and global social justice.

1. Trends in Internationalisation
Professor Nigel Healey
Vice President Global and Community Engagement
11:00-12:30
18 March 2024

2. 1. What are the drivers of the
internationalisation of higher
education?
2. What are the benefits of
internationalisation?
3. How has internationalisation led to
the commercialisation of higher
education in Anglophone
countries?
4. How are the factors shaping the
internationalisation of higher
education changing?
5. Action through Partnership: Global
Engagement Strategy 2023-28

3. 1. What are the drivers of the internationalisation of
higher education?
• Globalisation:
• Business
• Culture
• Technology and social media
• Air travel
• English as the global second
language
• Isomorphism:
• The Bologna process
• International associations
• International accreditation
• World university rankings

4. The special features of higher education
• Higher education as a public good
(teaching and research)
• Higher education as a driver of economic
and social change
• Public subsidies, government regulation
and direction, national quality assurance
• Higher education is not a free market
• Malaysian students and the Asian
crisis
• Chinese students in Australia
• Sino-foreign joint institutes and
programmes in China
• Tier 4 visas in the UK post-2010

5. 2. What are the drivers of
internationalisation at a sectoral
level? – national motivations
• Developmental (Colombo Plan)
• Commercial (UK, Australia)
• Demographic (Japan, Korea, Taiwan)
• Diplomatic – ‘soft power’ (Qatar)
• Global positioning (Russia)
• Technology transfer (China)
• Talent acquisition (US)

6. The drivers of Anglophone vs European internationalisation:
a more detailed look
The European way
• Subsidise higher education –
international and domestic students –
as a public good
• Promote no-fees based international
exchange (Erasmus 1987-)
• Support the development of
neighbourhood higher education
systems (Tempus, Tacis, etc)
• Fund international research
partnerships (Horizon Europe)
The Anglophone way
• End public subsidies/quotas for
international students
• Maintain public subsidies/quotes for
domestic students
• Focus universities on fast-growing
developing countries with unequal
income distribution
• Use full-/above-cost international
tuition fees to cross subsidise
domestic students and research

7. Anglophone and European convergence
Anglophone focus
on outbound
mobility (Turing,
New Colombo Plan)
European move to
full-cost international
tuition fees

8. Small group
discussion and
feedback 1
What are the main drivers of internationalisation
at your university?

9. What are the benefits of
internationalisation?
• Internationalisation is more than export
education
• European Union: Erasmus+ (€26bn
2021-27): 10m mobilities
• Colombo Plan 1951-83
• Global citizenship
• Graduate employability
• Critical thinking: ontological shock
• Role for virtual / blended mobility…
• …but deep ontological shock requires
physical mobility and immersion in another
culture

10. Small group
discussion and
feedback 2
What are the main benefits of
internationalisation for your university?

11. 3. How has internationalisation led to the commercialisation
of higher education in Anglophone countries?
% international enrolments
% market share of
global market
2010 2014 2019* 2019*
Australia 21% 18% 28% 8%
Canada n/a 10% 16% 5%
Ireland n/a 7% 11% 0%
New Zealand 14% 19% 21% 1%
United Kingdom 16% 18% 19% 8%
United States 3% 4% 5% 16%
Source: Education at a Glance 2023 (OECD)
*Latest year available without impact of Covid-19

12. The business model: a virtuous circle
WUR 2024 Institution
% international
enrolments
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 37.9%
2 University of Cambridge 47.4%
3 University of Oxford 45.6%
4 Harvard University 35.2%
5 Stanford University 42.6%
6 Imperial College London 49.6%
7 ETH Zurich 44.6%
8 National University Singapore 39.9%
9 University College London 49.9%
10 University of California, Berkeley 43.0%
Source: https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings

13. The full economic cost
by activity – UK
universities

14. 4. How are the factors shaping the
internationalisation of higher education
changing?
• Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on “business as
usual”
• Global social justice:
• Growing focus on Sustainable Development
Goals
• Black Lives Matter – confronting colonialism /
neo-colonialism
• Geopolitical tensions:
• Russia / Ukraine
• Middle East
• South China Sea
• Nationalism and retreat from multilateralism
• Accommodation crisis
• Popular resistance to immigration
• Tightened international visa regimes in
Australia, Canada, UK plus restrictions in The
Netherlands and Denmark

15. Small group
discussion and
feedback 1
How have the factors shaping the
internationalisation of higher education changed
in your country over the last five years?

16. 5. Action through Partnership: Global Engagement
Strategy 2023-28

17. Global engagement: the
changing context
• Looking backwards: what can global
engagement do for us?
• International exchange – graduate
employability
• International student recruitment – cross-
subsidise research and domestic students
• Looking forwards: what does global
engagement do to sustainable development
(negative effects)?
• Student mobility – carbon footprint /
climate action (SDG13)
• Student mobility – brain drain / reduced
inequalities (SDG10)
• Looking forwards: what can global
engagement do tor sustainable
development (positive effects)
• Student mobility – quality education
(SDG4) / gender equality (SDG5) / peace,
justice and strong institutions (SDG16)
• Transnational partnerships –capacity
building / decent work and economic
growth (SDG8) / partnership for the goals
(SDG17)

18. Global engagement as a means to an end
• University of Limerick (UL) is a research-led,
energetic and enterprising institution with a
proud record of innovation and excellence in
education and scholarship. Creativity,
curiosity, and excellence imbue our inclusive
community, which is committed to social
good.
• This new global engagement strategy sets
out the role of global engagement in
achieving UL’s medium-term goals for
research and learning, teaching and
assessment, while respecting and
embracing the core values reflected in UL’s
human rights and EDI strategy and our
sustainability framework.
Traditional export education is wholly commercial and respects neither core goals or core values

19. How can global engagement help us achieve our goals
for research?
Recruit and support international
PhD students
Use Erasmus+ to build new
partnerships
Support new international staff
Support multilateral consortia like
YERUN and EMERGE
Help improve UL's world ranking

20. How can global engagement help us achieve our
goals for learning, teaching and assessment?
• Student body
Diversify
• Development of dual/joint
degrees
Support
• Outbound mobility
Promote
• UL Global Lounge to
promote integration
Use
• Erasmus+ to develop
new pedagogies
Harness

21. How can global engagement help us
achieve our goals for equity, diversity and
inclusion?
Increase outbound
mobility of under-
represented
groups
01
Improve University
of Sanctuary
support
02
Showcase diversity
03
Train for universal
communications
04
Work with student
bodies to
understand the
lived experience of
international
students
05

22. How can global engagement help us achieve our goals for sustainable
development?
Establish in-
country
representative
offices
Deliver EC-
funded BIPs
Offer online
courses
overseas
Partner with
third parties to
deliver blended
courses offshore
Improve
scholarships for
low-income
countries

23. Next steps for Action through
Partnership
• Actions are grouped by 12 Aims: four for research, three for
learning, teaching and assessment; three for EDI and two
for sustainable development
• Each Aim has a set of indicative key performance indicators
(KPIs)
• The next stage is to produce a reporting format by
determining the baseline, benchmarks, and targets for each
KPI (see example below)
PO5. Baseline Benchmark
Per annum targets
(number # and proportion %)
# Indicator
Academic
Year
Comparator 23/24 24/25 25/26 26/27 27/28
5.5
No. of
international
students
2,040
(2022/23)
14.4% IUA
mean
(2022/23)
2,200 2,400 2,700 3,000 3,600

24. Go raibh maith
agat (Gur ruh
mah a-gut)
For more details:
• nigel.healey@ul.ie
For more information and research on
international higher education:
• https://limerick.academia.edu/NigelHealey