Internationalisation in the Digital Transformation: Strategies of German higher education institutions (INDISTRA)

This scoping review aims to trace the evidence in the international scientific literature on the intersections between COVID-driven digitalisation and the internationalisation strategies of higher education institutions (HEIs). The focus lies on teaching and learning, cooperation, support structures, and leadership processes. We reviewed 45 studies from an initial selection of 648 sources retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science. Results showed that digitally supported internationalisation strategies are often associated with more cost-effective, inclusive and sustainable models. Despite ongoing calls for comprehensive approaches, the systematic adoption of virtual internationalisation strategies remains largely a normative subject.

While demands for sustainable models of internationalization are a recurring theme in the debates on internationalization, it cannot be assumed that shared meanings underlie these discussions and proposed solutions. In the realm of the project INDISTRA, this opinion piece discusses how different understandings and drivers of internationalization might be at odds as HEIs are called to rethink their strategies and practices toward sustainable internationalization and provides some key strategies for implementing sustainable internationalization of HEIs.

In this article, we take a global perspective and analyse how state institutions constitute a countries’ place in the global network of transnational student mobility. We use longitudinal social network analysis to investigate transnational student mobility patterns and find that fragile institutions act as a push factor by increasing outbound student mobility. In addition, reputation of a higher education system impacts on the countries’ role as a favoured study destination. And, particularly for countries in the Global South, cultural similarity is important for the intensity and direction of exchange within the global network of transnational student mobility.

Our presentation combines the findings of a thematic analysis of expert interviews with heads of international offices with the result of a document analysis of internationalization and digitalization strategies of German higher education institutions. We address two main questions: First, what are the main objectives of virtualizing higher education internationalization? And second, how can those objectives be linked to multiple factors that shape actions, strategies and outcomes of higher education governance? We focus mainly on competition and values-based governance. Both aspects are connected to expectations and practical challenges for the management of the internationalization of higher education.

In this poster presentation, I shared my ongoing dissertation project investigating a Joint Degree Program (JDP) between a German and a Brazilian higher education institution. Drawing on Decolonial theorists and Schimank’s Actor Constellation Theory, the research questions examine the perspectives of management on the role of North-South international higher education partnerships in shaping strategic goals, the perceived challenges, institutional responses, as well as the environmental and organizational conditions that influence the operation of the selected case.

The poster presentation was aimed at sharing new insights gained into my dissertation projects following a week of exchanges and reflections around the topics of decoloniality and democratization of research practice.

Our presentation combines the findings of a content analysis of expert interviews with heads of international offices with the result of a document analysis of internationalization and digitalization strategies of German higher education institutions. We address two main questions: First, what are the main objectives of virtualizing higher education internationalization? And second, how can those objectives be linked to multiple factors that shape actions, strategies and outcomes of higher education governance? We focus mainly on competition and values-based governance. Both aspects are connected to expectations and practical challenges for the management of internationalization of higher education.

Based on a multimodal understanding of governance in German higher education, we aim to investigate the multiple objectives and factors that shape the digitalization of higher education internationalization. We find that while values-based and competition-related approaches often motivate higher education institutions to embrace digitalization; the implementation is rather shaped by hierarchy and collegial governance factors. We suggest understanding digitalization as a comprehensive approach intertwined with all levels and modes of governance in higher education.

The poster presentation at the DZHW/LCSS Conference 2023 aimed at sharing the findings of a scoping review conducted in the context of the project Internationalization in the Digital Transformation – INDISTRA. The study reviews international scientific literature on the intersections between COVID-driven digitalization and the internationalization strategies of higher education institutions. The focus lies on teaching and learning, cooperation, support structures, and leadership processes.

The poster presentation at the CHER Conference 2023 aimed at sharing the findings of a scoping review conducted in the context of the project Internationalization in the Digital Transformation – INDISTRA. The study reviews international scientific literature on the intersections between COVID-driven digitization and the internationalization strategies of higher education institutions. The focus lies on teaching and learning, cooperation, support structures, and leadership processes.

The scoping review conducted in the context of the project Internationalization in the Digital Transformation – INDISTRA, analyses 45 scientific journal articles published in English between June 2017 and June 2022. The study draws on international scientific literature to trace the evidence available on the intersections between covid-driven digitization and its systematic integration into the internationalization strategies of higher education institutions. The focus of the scoping review lies on teaching and learning, cooperation, administration, and decision-making processes.

In the field of internationalization of higher education, the establishment of joint programs is described as 'particularly problematic', due to the strong coordination efforts required. Yet, in a context of growing internationalization and digitalization, the online delivery of such programs is 'not only possible but desirable' (Joughin et al., 2022, p.829). At the HERSS Summer School, I discussed the prospects of investigating the setting up and implementation of digitally assisted-joint programs between German and Brazilian universities as the thematic focus of my Ph.D. research.

The war in Ukraine has not only ushered in a "turning point" in military terms. This conflict also has far-reaching consequences for academic mobility and transnational academic cooperation - both for strategies and concepts in international research and academic policy and for research on academic exchange and multilateral cooperation between universities. In a joint workshop with representatives of science exchange organisations, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Foreign Office, parliamentarians and scientists, we discuss these consequences for science and politics.

The governance of higher education and science, understood as coordination and decision-making mechanisms, faces the challenge of increasingly taking social values into account. Societal values such as justice, equality or sustainability are brought to universities and research institutions by a wide range of stakeholders. This leads to value orientations external to science finding their way into evaluation processes and even into the design of scientific agendas via the way governance processes are conducted. Current approaches see universities as prototypes of evolutionary organisations consisting of self-managing teams that are responsive to societal values.

The resurgence of all sorts of anti-globalization movements has produced huge repercussions in society, and institutions of higher education alike ( (Brøgger, 2021; Brooks, 2022; Habib, 2022; van der Vende, 2021). Knowing that the future of higher education internalization relies strongly on the way countries’ cross-border exchange will evolve (Lee, 2021), my participation in the Course The New geopolitics of Higher Education was aimed at reflecting on the research questions guiding the INDISTRA project (Internationalization and the Digital Transformation) in the light of current geopolitical debates; in particular, how the rise of neo-nationalisms is shaping new discourses and practices in higher education.

The war in Ukraine has not only ushered in a "turning point" in military terms. This conflict also has far-reaching consequences for academic mobility and transnational academic cooperation - both for strategies and concepts in international research and academic policy and for research on academic exchange and multilateral cooperation between universities. In a joint workshop with representatives of science exchange organisations, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Foreign Office, parliamentarians and scientists, we discuss these consequences for science and politics.