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The Internationalization of European Higher Education Institutions
Chapter · February 2014
DOI: 10.4337/9781783472000.00012
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Marco Seeber
Universitetet i Agder
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University of Lugano
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138
5. The internationalization of European
higher education institutions
Marco Seeber and Benedetto Lepori
INTRODUCTION
The notion that higher education has become more international, and
should become even more, has been repeatedly affirmed in the recent
debate. However, studies on this issue have been limited to analyses at
aggregate country level or to case studies of small samples of higher educa-
tion institutions. The EUMIDA project provides an opportunity to fill a
gap in our knowledge of the internationalization phenomenon. By focus-
ing on microdata it is possible to investigate which factors are associated
with high and low levels of internationalization, at the country level but
also at the level of individual institutions.
Internationalization is a complex construct, which requires careful defi-
nition and can be measured through several indicators (Horn et al., 2007).
Several studies, as well as public policies, have focused on temporary mobil-
ity. Instead, we focus on indicators of long- term mobility such as the share
of foreign undergraduate students, PhDs and academic staff. These indica-
tors reflect pivotal effects in academic activity; thus, any relevant process
affecting their composition is also likely to affect institutional functioning.
The chapter is organized as follows. In the first section we introduce
the conceptual framework by describing the main rationales for interna-
tionalization and discussing several explanatory variables at country and
institutional level. The empirical section describes the level of internation-
alization of European higher education institutions, while the conclusions
discuss the main findings and the open issues for further research.
INTERNATIONALIZATION: FROM INDIVIDUAL
EXPERIENCE TO SYSTEM POLICIES
The competition for the most talented students and researchers that char-
acterized the American system and was a key element of its success is now
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The internationalization of European higher education institutions 139
extending to a global scale (Wildavsky, 2010). This complex process takes
place within the larger processes of migration, yet with its own dynamics
and intrinsic rules, determined by the interaction of individual, institu-
tional and national factors.
For a long time internationalization was mostly the outcome of indi-
vidual choices of short- or long- term mobility, while the institutional and
political support was not an issue. The expectation of mobility for students
and researchers is driven by the perception that the international experi-
ence increases exposure to new skills, ideas and ways of working, facilitat-
ing the transfer of knowledge and creativity. Students and scientists also
migrate, looking for better career opportunities, work conditions, facilities
and higher status.
In the last decades, however, the internationalization of research and
teaching activities has become a policy and institutional priority in its own
right, on the assumption that it can generate positive spillovers in terms
of quality and give access to financial, instrumental and human resources
(Geuna, 1998a, 1998b; De Wit, 1999; Primeri, 2008). At the institutional
level, internationalization can be conceived as the process of integrating an
international and intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and
service functions (Knight and De Wit, 1995). Several economic, political
and cultural rationales may justify the support to the international dimen-
sion, which after all is directly linked to the early history and development
of universities, as the concept of ‘universe’ is inherent in the same name
‘university’ (Knight, 1997).
The circulation of highly skilled people is often depicted as a globaliza-
tion phenomenon, unavoidable and beyond control of single entities. In
reality, nation states and supranational institutions are deeply involved in
this process, explicitly promoting selective immigration policies to attract
excellent students and researcher.
THE RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION TO
EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION
The European Union (EU) has promoted several initiatives to facilitate the
mobility of researchers within the framework of thee European Research
Area (ERA),1 even if there are still several obstacles for mobility of
researchers in Europe (MORE, 2010).
Despite the ambitious goal to become the most innovative area in the
world, Europe has still to face an asymmetry with the USA in terms of
flows of PhD students and researchers (Moguérou, 2005). Moreover, the
production of PhDs in Asian countries has dramatically increased over
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the last decades, while in Europe it has levelled off, especially in the scien-
tific and technical disciplines (ibid.).
Researcher mobility was initially intended to achieve a better alignment
between supply and demand for researchers across Europe. However, the
promotion of policies to enhance mobility across countries is not without
risks. The received wisdom, implicit in the brain drain debate, suggests that
host countries are the net beneficiaries of highly skilled migration, capable
of ‘skimming’ the cream of employees in the competitive global markets
(Ackers and Gill, 2007). The concepts of brain drain or brain gain are
too simplistic to capture this dynamic, as countries will be simultaneously
sending and receiving talents. But, as in a strategic game, each country
attempts to pass on to others the cost of migration by obtaining from
lower levels the input to fill up the gaps left by emigrants to its own skills
base. Flows are not occurring randomly, rather they have a clear direction
from lower to higher places, in terms of income and reputation. In Europe,
the sending countries have lost significant numbers of scientists since the
1990s, and there is a sense that flows are largely unidirectional and go from
‘less attractive’ regions to more competitive places (Meyer et al., 2001).
In sum, the sustainability and management of human capital is problem-
atic both in sending and receiving countries. If the former countries face a
potential brain- drain issue, in the latter the continued ability to attract stu-
dents and recruit researchers from abroad reduces the need to ensure the
scientific career to be appealing to home- grown researchers, and ultimately
threats the sustainability of science. There may be an underlying tension
in the European Union research policy: on one hand, the commitment to
the freedom of movement of European citizens and individual equity in
employment opportunity; on the other, concerns about the consequences
of free and open labour markets.
INTERNATIONALIZATION AND THE QUALITY OF
RESEARCH
Attracting foreign researchers is commonly perceived as a recipe for
increasing research quality, as international researchers generate a creative
diversity (Manrique and Manrique, 1999; De Wit, 2002; Sheppard, 2004;
Hser, 2005; Altbach, 2006; NAFSA, 2006; Stromquist, 2007). In general,
opening the research system to foreign researchers facilitates the accumu-
lation of talent in places with a high intensity of scientific research and
encourages the creation of centres of excellence (Viljamaa et al., 2009).
Several arguments support the existence of a positive association between
internationalization and research quality.
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The internationalization of European higher education institutions 141
A very low level of international staff may result from closeness and
isolation, and many studies have proven that closeness is detrimental to
research quality. Favouring internal, as opposed to external, knowledge
exchanges preserves the existing institutional culture and status quo,
leading to intellectual and organizational inertia (Leslie and Fretwell,
1996), and ultimately affects the output and quality of the research
work (Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001; Rosenkopf and Almeida, 2003).
Academic inbreeding has long been assumed to have a damaging effect
on scholarly practices and achievements because it gives rise to aca-
demic parochialism. When a university hires its own PhDs, there will
be an overemphasis on the reproduction of locally learned knowledge,
practices, as well as a consolidation of social structures in the organi-
zation. This may slow or block new or alternative approaches to the
creation of institutional knowledge, limiting institutional change and
ultimately contributing to the ossification of the organization (European
Commission, 1995). In many countries inbreeding is very common; esti-
mates suggest that the level of academic inbreeding is high in Portugal
(91 per cent), Spain (88per cent), Italy (78 per cent), Austria (73 per cent)
and France (65percent); it is medium in Norway (56 per cent), Belgium
(52 per cent), Finland (48 per cent), while it is low in the Netherlands
(40 per cent), Denmark (39 per cent), Sweden (32 per cent), Switzerland
(23 per cent), UK (5 per cent) and Germany (1 per cent). Overall, scien-
tific productivity correlates negatively with the percentage of inbreeding
(Soler, 2001). In Mexico, inbred faculties generate on average 15 per cent
less peer- reviewed publications, they are about 40 per cent less likely to
exchange information of critical relevance to their scholarly work with
external colleagues and academic inbreeding appears to be detrimental
to scientific output even in leading research universities (Horta et al.,
2010). In Italian universities the higher the share of researchers born in
the province of the university and the worse the scientific performance
of the institution (Reale and Seeber, 2011), while universities where cro-
nyism is widespread are characterized by even poorer academic perform-
ances (Durante et al., 2011).
Foreign staff may be valuable because of direct positive spillover on
quality. Studies on the research performance of foreign researchers have
shown the importance of the contribution of foreign born researchers
to US science (Levin and Stephan, 1999; Kerr, 2008; Black and Stephan,
2010). International faculty members are significantly more productive in
research than US citizen faculty members, but less productive in teach-
ing and service (Hunt, 2009; Mamiseishvili and Rosser, 2010). Recent
literature suggests that hiring external researchers into existing environ-
ments is important for the ability of organizations to generate and access
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new knowledge. Researcher mobility is more likely to result in interfirm
knowledge transfer (Song et al., 2003), and hiring star scientists can
reshape the direction of research organizations (Song et al., 2003; Lacetera
et al., 2004). Internationalization stimulates linkages to external actors,
which allow the university to understand their context and identify where
resources are available.
Foreign researchers are expected to apply in large number to excellent
universities, just because these institutions are attractive and grant a high
status (Geuna, 1998b). Horn et al. (2007) analysed the internationaliza-
tion of 77 research universities in the United States, and found that the
top 11 institutions with respect to internationalization are also ranked
among the top 11 by quality. Even so, one should be careful in identify-
ing a causal relationship between hiring more foreign staff and increased
research performance. A ‘Matthew Effect’ could be in place. In such
perspective, internationalization would be an instance of the virtuous
circle of resources, prestige and performance, as students and staff apply
in large numbers to wealthy and performing institutions (Horn et al.,
2007).
DETERMINANTS AND DYNAMICS OF
INTERNATIONALIZATION
Some elements can be identified that are expected to affect the level of
internationalization at country and institutional level.
Country Factors
Financial resources
The level of available financial resources, and in particular the resources
invested by the state, is a major issue in internationalization (Egron- Polak
and Hudson, 2010). For instance, the Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich (ETH) receives almost tenfold public funds than its Portuguese
equivalent (Horta, 2010) and it is able to recruit many researchers (42 per
cent) even from research- intensive countries such as the USA, Germany,
UK and France (Horta et al., 2010).
Academic labour markets and recruitment procedures
Systems are characterized by different approaches and practices in the
recruitment of researchers, which may favour or hinder access of foreign
researchers. In some countries most recruitment occurs within the insti-
tutional boundaries, whereas in other systems external markets prevail
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The internationalization of European higher education institutions 143
and career advancement involves the praxis or law obligation to apply
for posts in universities other than the current place of work (Musselin,
2003). New posts may be publicly advertised with different intensity and
content: in the group website, by the university portal or even at the min-
istry level; furthermore, the national language can be used, the English
language, or both. Recruitment procedures can be highly formalized or not
(EURYDICE, 2008). Standardized procedures and rules aim at an ex ante,
centralized control of entry quality; in other systems, chairs and faculty
level have more discretionary power in the choice of criteria, and likely
more responsibility ex post for the scientific production of the selected
candidate.
Language
Language hinders the inward mobility in countries where less widely
spoken languages are dominant and where the use of major languages is
not typical in the academia. There are considerable differences between the
Member States in how they deal with languages. In large countries, such
as Germany, Italy, Spain and France, foreign students and scientists are
still, more or less, expected to speak the national language. The situation
