The EMBINT Consortium is happy to announce the launch of the EMBINT Desk Research Report, offering a comprehensive analysis of internationalisation in European Higher Education Institutions. The literature review, as a result of Work Package 2 of the project, focuses on the assessment of institutional frameworks for the internationalisation of under-internationalised staff functions, especially the professional and administrative staff (non-academic staff), which is often neglected in traditional internationalisation strategies.
The first part of the desk research report analyses the current state of internationalisation in European higher education, identifies structural and individual barriers to participation in international activities and develops criteria for evaluating measures. The research report emphasises that internationalisation must be integrated into teaching, research and services in order to increase quality for all students and staff. In order to achieve this, internationalisation has to be understood in a broader sense, not only as physical mobility, but as a comprehensive institutional transformation process. Relevant concepts here include “Comprehensive Internationalisation”, “Inclusive Internationalisation” and “Internationalisation at Home” (IaH).
The second part of the report presents a mapping of existing institutional structures and practices, including a categorisation of underrepresented staff groups, a typology of measures, as well as a classification of offers by format (physical/virtual/blended), structure and target audience.
In a third part, instruments for assessing the internationalisation level of employee groups and individual employees are presented. This includes a matrix for classifying the degree of internationalisation (from “Basic Awareness” to “Embedded Practice”) as well as criteria for impact assessment (input, activities, outputs, outcomes, impact). Particular attention is paid to sustainability, defined by anchoring internationalisation in organisational culture, in personnel development plans and in long-term partnerships.
The desk research and mapping of existing practices and structures offers readers an overview of the relevant research on the topic in question, and in-depth insights into theories on internationalisation in Higher Education in Europe and beyond. The mapping will be useful for the audience to apply the structured information to their own institutional contexts.
Feel free to check out the desk research report here.