The Evolution of International Strategies in English Universities

The internationalisation of universities has become an increasingly topical issue with, inter alia, growing numbers of students seeking higher education (HE) across national borders. There has been much discussion of the implications of internationalisation for HE policy and for nation states; however, internationalisation has not been investigated from a strategic organisational perspective. A pilot study of four English universities was undertaken via a process of document review and semi structured interviews. A modified form of Grounded Theory was employed to analyse the outcomes of the document reviews and the interviews. The results indicate that international strategies in the four English universities have gone through three phases, as their approaches to this phenomenon have matured and progressed from operational to strategic. The findings have led to the development of a model which conceptualises the main stages of the internationalisation of English (and, by implication, UK) universities. The possible consequences of Brexit for the model are discussed. Future research will seek to investigate universities’ international strategies in other national HE contexts.